Made To Kill
by XxPhoenix FlightxX
Summary: The Flock was made to save the world. We were made to stop them. Major OC. Set after Fang  only he didn't leave . Slight hinted crossover later on. Some blood, violence, and light swearing. Co-written with BoOkWoRm1807 please R and R! VERY LAST CHAPTER!
1. Z's story

Z's Past  
I was around the age of eight when the tragedy hit. My family and I were at the dinner table, my older brother saying grace. I stared at the candle, watching the flame grow, and the wax melt. I didn't pay much attention to the prayer, I was concentrating on the flame, wondering if there was a way I could carry the flame in my hand.

Mom told me I had extraordinary gifts. I was hoping for some reason that holding fire was one of the gifts. I also knew my other gift. I had wings. Only my mom and my older brother Kyle knew about them. My step dad and my little baby sister didn't know. Mom had divorced my real dad and remarried Charlie.

Kyle took the marriage a little harsh. Didn't like Charlie at all, but put up with him for mom's sake. Mom had divorced dad because of what my father did to me. He had sold me to a group of scientists to do experiments on me; worst part was that he did it for the money. The money that would give him his next high. I despised my father for that. Trading his daughter for drugs? Not only that, but he separated me from my family. I was different from everyone. I knew no one with wings. That was the hard part. I got treated like a normal kid, but I always had an urge to fly, I guess it's the bird side of me. I got teased a lot because of that urge, so my mom put me through martial art training, to defend myself. I was the youngest kid in the class, but with my mature and older looks I could pass it up. I was at the age of five when I started training, but I looked around seven. Even Kyle's friends, who were in middle school, thought I was older and asked me out on dates, when I told them my real age they freaked. So it's sort of a good thing and a bad.

Each day I'm reminded that I'm different, and that I shouldn't be here with my family. Mom only got me back because she never agreed to them experimenting with me and threatened to tell the world about their experiments. Mom was smart enough to change our names and give us new identities. I'm sure that those scientists would have come after us.

Kyle finished saying grace and had asked me if I wanted any mashed potatoes. I smiled at him and nodded. I loved my brother so much it hurt. To me he was my fatherly figure. Then my little sister started crying.

"Sounds like she needs a change," Mom said. I got up and motioned for her to stay sitting.

"I'll do it mom, you've worked enough today," I said. She smiled thanks and nodded. I picked up Princess, that's what we called her, and headed to the baby's room to change her.

I was just about done with Princess when I heard a loud crash. I looked at the door, another crash came, then yelling. It confused me. Even if Kyle and Charlie don't really get along, they never fought each other, they just went separate ways. But I've never heard some much yelling in this house before. I picked up Princess and walked out to see what was going on. When I got to the dining area I saw broken plates and scattered food on the floor. Broken glasses and silverware, all over the place. I looked around and saw that Charlie was on the floor, pain on his face. I panicked, and looked around in search of Kyle and Mom. I heard another crash, coming from the kitchen. I was cautious and slowly went to the kitchen. When I opened the door, my eyes widened. There in front of me was a giant, hairy man. Next to him, a man in a white coat. Just like a science lab coat. I then realized who these people were.

"RUN!" I heard Kyle yell. I looked over at him, and he was fending off one of the hairy men. I saw mom on the floor knocked out.

"MOM!" I screamed and started to go to her.

"DONT BE STUPID! RUN!" Kyle shouted at the top of his lungs. I then saw the hairy man and the scientist coming toward me. Instinct finally kicked in and I turned around and kicked one in the face. It was the scientist.

"DONT FIGHT! RUN!" Kyle was then next to me, pushing me out the door, while fending off the hairy guy.

"But what about you?" I asked.

"RUN!" was all he said. And this time I actually listened. With Princess still in my arms I ran, I ran so fast I don't think anyone could have caught up to me.

Then reality hit. They aren't after my family, they're after me. I looked down at Princess who I hadn't noticed was crying. I tried soothing her, with no luck. I need to protect her, and also go save mom and Kyle, and maybe Charlie. I made up my mind. I ran back to my neighbors' house, banging on the door. An old lady stepped out. She smiled, recognizing me. I handed over Princess. "Can you watch my sister for a minute; my family is in a bit of a crisis."

She simply nodded; we lived in the ghetto so it was only natural to have a family fight. But not our family. We never fought, well not the way people thought.

I ran back to the house, hoping I could save my family, but as I got to the front door, the worst thing possible happened. My house blew up. Not like a huge explosion, just enough to let me know anyone in the house was dead. The neighbors' house caught fire, and I saw their family file out. But where was my family? I darted inside. Hoping to find someone, anyone that I recognized. I ran into the room I last saw Kyle in. Smoke filled my lungs, making me cough hysterically. Then my foot hit something. I looked down and saw my mom's body. All charred up and dead. I choked back tears. I looked around the room and found Kyle's body. He was just like mom, burnt and dead. I looked for Charlie, but he was dead before the explosion, anyway. I could hear sirens in the background. I looked at my family, and the tears finally came.

Why? Why would they do this? Why explode them? I then felt hands on me. I turned around ready to attack, but then I saw a mask. I looked it over; it was in yellow suit made orange because of the flames. A firefighter.

"Are you okay?" they asked. I nodded and they lead me out side.

Once out, the paramedics rushed over to me, analyzing me. I did what they told me to do, follow the light look at their crooked fingers, yadda yadda yadda. I finally got a look at the firefighter that had taken me out of the house. It was a young woman. She asked me who else was in the house. I gave her the names and who they were, I said nothing about the attackers.

"You'll be coming with us," one of the paramedics said. I didn't listen to him; I saw the old lady with my sister and ran to them. She handed me Princess and my sister looked up at me curiously. I smiled back. At least I have her.

As weeks became months they figured out what set the fire, the stove's gas was left on and a match had been stuck. I didn't believe it, but acted like I did. They sent me to live with the old lady as she volunteered to take care of us. But I knew that those people would come back, wanting to get me. I made a decision. It would be hard for me, but it would save the lady and my sister.

So I left without a word. But I left a note with my sister, in her jewelry box I had bought her. The old lady didn't know about it, but Princess did, she played with it. I knew soon, she would find it and find out why I left. I left no trace as where I would go, because honestly I didn't know myself. I was on the run or rather on the fly. I had secretly taught myself to fly. So with my sister safe, and no family to hassle me to come back, I left. Promising myself never to think of the past. Never tell anyone. I wiped away a tear as I realized I may never see my Princess again.

**So this is something i've been writing with BoOkWoRm1807, this was her chapter, mine's next, and we'll go on just like that. we've been emailing it back and forth since October, and i finally got around to editing it so it could be posted, so ta-da! like i said, we have at least like twenty chapters so updating will be pretty fast, as long as i get time to edit then post, so yeah, hope you like, please review, cyber-pie for all! luvs!**


	2. Jess' Story

**Disclaimer: yeah i forgot last time, my bad ^_^;; hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the butt (i already have a bruise from falling down the stairs XD) i don't own Maximum Ride, i only own Jess, and BoOkWoRm owns Z, k? k, on with the story**

My name is Jess. I have curly brown hair, green eyes, and freckles. I almost look like an ordinary teenage girl. Almost. I have wings, dark brown. Some might say they're beautiful. I think they're horrible. My mother and twin brother died because I was born. At least that's what my dad yells down the stairs at me everyday since I can remember. My wings must have had something to do with it. I'm not normal. My dad locked me up in the basement all my life, and I don't blame him. But when I was about maybe fifteen (I've never been absolutely sure how old I was) I got out and I ran away. I flew a little, but I couldn't stay up for long. Then, Z and the Flock found me. Turns out, I was supposed to go to a place called the School when I was born, but they never came for me because they lost track of me and my mother. My dad only wanted a boy, so he let them take me. My brother would have been normal. So now I'm with the Flock, and I'm getting stronger every day. It's weird having people care about you, even if some of them don't show it too much. But I don't care, I'm wanted for once, and that's more than I've ever had. I wonder sometimes about my mom, and if she wanted me. I also worry sometimes that living with the Flock won't last, if they'll decide they don't want me for today, I'll enjoy it, in case it doesn't last.

Jess' POV

Everything is dark. It's always dark, except when HE opens the door to throw down some food and yell. What else is new?

Two-hundred seven, two-hundred eight, two-hundred nine.

I'm tired, but I know I haven't been moving nearly enough lately. I don't let myself stop.

Three-hundred seventy-seven, three-hundred seventy-eight, three-hundred seventy-nine.

It's been a few days (I think) since HE last gave me food. He's probably been really drunk latley, and forgot. Again.

Four-hundred ninty-eight, four-hundred ninty-nine, five-hundred.

As if on cue, my knees buckle beneath me, letting me fall to the floor limply like a rag doll. They know the count is five-hundred, and they don't need my permission to stop. Five-hundred paces around the walls every day. I just lay there on the floor, almost serene, listening to my own breathing. I need food. I need it bad, right now.

I might have fallen asleep, but it's hard to tell in the dark. The next thing I know, there's banging coming from upstairs. Finally… food. There's some shouting, more than one person. That's not right. HE lives alone, no one ever comes.

A few moments of silence. Maybe-

BANG!

The door slams open, and two guys practically fall down the stairs, they're moving so fast. They race over to me, and I stand automatically, just as they grab me. I'm numb as they tie my hands behind my back (ow) and throw me over their shoulder, pressing something against my... face... it's soft... cloth... wha...?

Why did i fall asleep like this? All twisted up... what the heck? I can't move my arms, I can hardly move anything at all. I hear voices...

"...can't believe that's her...told us she was dangerous...held back by some rope around her wrists..."  
There's some laughter, more talking. I open my eyes slowly. I'm laying on the ground, with my wrists still tied behind my back, and a gag tied over my mouth, cutting at the corners of my lips. Someone is sitting in front of my face, and someone else is sitting on the other side, facing the first person. I immediately start working my wrists, and the rope starts to give away almost instantly. This would be easy. The second guy saw that I was awake, and pionted it out, causing the first guy to turn around and look down at me.

"Better get the..." the second guy said, trailing off, talking to himself. The first guy turned his whole body around, and reached down one arm, as if to lift me up, when the other guy interrupeted him.

"Don't."

"Aw, come on, they just said to get her, they didn't say we couldn't have fun with it"

"Just don't."

"No one will know, I'll make sure she doesn't tell anyone, and besides what are they gonna do? They're dweebs in lab coats."

"Just. Don't."

"Fine…" said the guy next to me. He waited a minute, then reached down again, right as I snapped the rope in two. His hand touched my back, right on top of my wings, and he froze. He started to say something about it to his partner, but I stopped him. I stood, spreading my wings, all in one smooth motion. The first guy fell back in shock, screaming like a school girl. The other guy turned on his heel so qiuckly that he dropped the white handkerchief and glass bottle he was holding.  
While they cowered, a calmly pulled the bandanna out of my mouth and let it hang around my neck. They looked at me like a was a dark angel from Hell... now there's an idea...

"How. Dare. You." I say it so qiuet, it has a better effect than if I was shouting. They start blabbering excuses, but I silence them with one lift of my finger, then continue.

"Who sent you?"

"I-uh- no one, no one I swear-"

"Who sent you?"

"J-just these scientist guys, they told us you belonged to them, and we just-"

"Shut up," I say with disgust. "You won't ever tell them or anyone what you've seen tonight. you never found me, no, you found me dead. You'll never do anything they tell you to do ever again, and you'll be model citizens. You'll go to the police and confess to any crimes you were never caught doing, and serve your time. Understand?"

They just wordlessly nod, scared witless. And I turn around and walk away, folding in my wings as I went. Honestly, I had no idea were I was going, just away from there.

A few days later.

The breeze ruffled through my hair as I looked down at the street. I'd like to stay in one spot, watching the people like I usually do. But not today. Someone's following me, probably more than one person, and I don't plan on letting them catch me. I tighten the knot of the bandanna, wrapped around my thigh today, and stand up. I walk to one edge of the roof and start climbing down, mostly on the fire escape. I found out I'm pretty good at climbing things. I hit the street and start walking, blending in with the crouded sidewalks of the city. Whenever a glass door opens, I look in the reflection to see behind me, checking for anyone following me without turning around and making it obvious. Three more times in a row, I see the same five, no six teenagers, and two kids with them. Trying not to be paranoid, I just take a right turn.

Three more door-opens later, they're still there. I walk faster, so do they. Two more door-opens. I start to run, dodging and weaving through people. I'm a fast runner, so for a minute I think I've lost them, but no, of course they're still there. Of course I can never be safe. When I think they're not looking, I duck into an alley-way. Time to start taking the back streets. I don't stop running, and I can hear them behind me. I decide the only way to get away is to fly. No one's actually seen my wings, besides those two scumbags who kidnapped me and my dad, but I figure these guys must already know I have them, or they probably wouldn't be chasing me. I just need to build up the right speed...

SMACK!

My head hits the sidewalk, and I look up to see a little blond kid straddling me, holding down my wrists. He looks at me with blue eyes, not in a mean way, but a determined way, like he'll never let me go. Good luck with that, kid, I think, then easily roll over, so I'm on top of him. He has a moment to look almost surprised, before someone wrenches me off of him, holding me from behind. I try kicking and hitting and biting, but there's no getting this guy off of me, so I hold still for a minute, letting him think I've given up. I can see the five other teenagers, and the two little kids. A girl with dirty-blond hair is scolding the little kid who tackled me.

"Gazzy, I told you not to tackle her!"

The kid looks a little guilty, then the other little kid, a girl who looks like she could be his sister, speaks up.

"I told him to. She was going to fly away, and you said-"

"Angel," said a voice from the person holding me. "You know-OW!"

Yeah, I bit him, but it didn't make him let go, it just brought all the attention right back to me. Dang. Ok, time to go back to my first tactic. I start to struggle agian, hoping his grip was loosened slightly by my biting him. To add to the effect, I started shouting at them.

"LET ME GO! I'M NOT COMING WITH YOU! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

I could've gone on for a while, but a girl with dark hair shuts me up.

"Hey!" she shouts. "Calm the heck down already! Where did you think we were going to take you?"

Good question. "I-I don't know! I could ask you the same thing!"

The guy holding me lets go, his arms dropping to his sides. I don't run. I just stand there getting a good look at them all. There's also an African American girl, a pale guy with strawberry blonde hair, a tan guy that admittedly looks good, yet I'm not personally attracted to him, and an emo looking guy with black hair, who must have been the one holding me. I don't know what to do, I'm so confused and actually really scared for the first time since I got away. The girl with dark hair makes the first move, stepping forward and holding out her hand.

"Z," she says, and at first I'm even more confused. Why are they being nice? I slowly take her hand and shake it.

"Jess."

**Well, there's my chapter, hope you liked it, sorry for the wait, i've been mega-sick today, and on drugs, so yeah, i only just got on tp post this, I'll give you the next chapter soon, kk? yeah, i got to bite Fang, though i'd much rather bite Iggy ;) peace (of cake!) i'm out, please review, tell your friends! luvs!**


	3. The Story Begins

**Alright everybody im back! Sorry, haven't been able to actually get on the computer, so you know what? You get three chapters! Or something like that. We'll see. My time is limited. These stories are all written out, like I said, so it's pretty qiuck, except for the editing I have to do. So the following chapter is by BoOkWoRm. Mine's up next, if you care. Anyway... ON WITH THE SHOW!**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own MR, but I am currently reading Angel (O.!)**

Z's POV

I'm flying through the air, my wings spread out into the sky. The fresh scent of pine fills my lungs. How great it is to fly. I dive into the forest below, landing on a tree branch. It sucks that I can't fly more, because these stupid Erasers have my friends. I scan the forest floor, searching for them. I see my friend Jess being carried; she's knocked out. I follow the Eraser hoping that he'll lead me to the others. He sets down Jess, next to a blond girl who is also knocked out. Angel. You'd think, of all people, she'd be the one to hear them coming. I look around and see the rest of the Flock. Dylan is lying down next to Max, and next to her is Fang. All three knocked out, of course. I then see Gazzy and Iggy tied up to a tree, also knocked out cold. (Who would have guessed?) Wait, where's Nudge? I then see an Eraser drop her next to Angel and Jess, (wait for it…) knocked out as well.

"Where is she?" said a voice. I looked down to see an Eraser, talking into a walkie-talkie.

"I don't know. She wasn't with the others," a voice came from the walkie-talkie. Of course I wasn't with them; I was being such a brat and had to go check out that manga book store. They told me to meet up with them later, and I was, but then _this_ happened. When I saw it, I thought, 'NO! I should be with them! Why not me?' But now I'm thinking, 'Aren't you glad I stayed behind? I'm saving all your butts.'

I sneak around the area through the trees to get closer to the Flock. Most of the Erasers are around the forest searching for me, the idiots. I'm so tempted to just jump up and down and yell "I'm over here, you big morons!" But I don't. I can see Iggy's head bobbing, he's waking up. I sneak closer to him.

"Pretend you're asleep," I whisper in his ear. He instantly recognizes my voice, and keeps his eyes shut. I scoot over behind the tree. "I'm going to untie you guys. Make sure Gazzy doesn't fall over." I add, but I spoke too soon, Gazzy is already starting to wake up. He sees me and smiles. I smile back as I untie the rope, letting it slide down to their waists. They sit very still. "I'll go try wake up Max."

Iggy nods as he and Gazzy quietly make it over to Jess, and the others. Max is breathing evenly, thank gawd.

"Max," I say softly, touching her leg. She doesn't wake up. I shake her leg, and she starts to stir. Suddenly, I think of a way to get her to wake up faster. "Max, get up slowly, because Fang is on top of you," I say, trying desperately to hold back a laugh. Her eyes burst open and her hands go to her stomach, but she feels no-one on top of her. She turns her head to glare at me and I put my fingers to my lips. She narrows her eyes, but I ignore her and point at Fang. She looks over at him and registers that they're still in danger. I crawl over to wake up Dylan. I reach for his arm but then he grabs it, startling me. I manage to stay quiet, trying not to scream. He sits up and looks at me. I narrow my eyes at him. I hate this guy, we don't really get along. Don't ask, it's a long story.

I look over to where Iggy and Gazzy who had gotten up the others. I see Jess sitting up rubbing her eyes. I swiftly make it over to her. She and I are the closest, because we're both new to the Flock, aside from the blond idiot over there. {Dylan}

"Are you okay?" I ask her. She nods, and looks up at me with a smile. But suddenly her smile fades. She nods her head behind me. I look and see a giant Eraser.

"I found her, boss," he said. The next thing I know, I'm being tackled to the ground. The air is knocked out of me.

"Ooooff," I let out. I can hear Jess gasp.

"Re-tie the others," the wolf boy on top of me says. I'm struggling against him, trying to get up. Then all of a sudden I see this black figure, and down goes wolf boy. I look over to see Gazzy and Iggy, punching his face in. I suppress a laugh and get up, looking around to see the whole Flock in battle. I can see an Eraser getting ready to fight me. I smile evilly at him. He charges. I charge at him too. You'd think that would be a stupid thing to do. Not if you're a bird kid. As soon as he was inches away from me, I jumped, oh, I don't know, maybe a yard into the air. I used the wolf boy's head so that I could flip behind him. He just stood there, confused. I punched him in the back of his knees. He crashed to the ground howling in pain. I smiled, and yelled, "SUCKER!"

"Flock! Up and Away!" Max yells. I expand my dark gray wings, and jump into the air, flapping them. I hit a few pine needles, but it didn't really hurt. I turned and looked to see who else made it. I saw Angel's white wings next to mine, Jess' brown wings on the other side. Where was everyone else? Then in front of me burst out Dylan, almost knocking me out of the air.

"Geeze! Watch where you're flying, dude!" I shout. He just looks at me. Then after him comes Iggy, then Gazzy, then Nudge. Where's Max and Fang? I look on the ground to see they're still struggling. I fly down, thinking I can help. On the way, I break off a branch, and hit the Eraser holding Fang with it. Pine needles get stuck on his snout.  
'NOW it looks a bit decent,' I joked in my head.

"Fang! Z!" Max yells and points up. We all jump at the same time.  
"Back to the base?" Nudge asked. Max nods and we fly toward the base.  
"Oh crap," I hear Dylan say. We all look at him. All he says is, "Flyboys."  
Then, out in front of us, I can see a black cloud forming. Wait, it's not a cloud; it's a bunch of Flyboys. I hate it when Dylan's misfortunes come true. Well, I guess play time isn't over.


	4. Stranger Danger

**Part two of your three-part gift! (hopefully) This chapter majorly jumps POVs, so whoever wrote them is labed next to who's POV it is (does that make sense?) Anway, forgot to mention, in our version, not only did Fang stay, but the Erasers and Flyboys are still very much around, as you can see. This was quickly edited, so grammar mistakes are probably all over the place. Grmar Nazis will be pointed in this direction, to read this long, boring authors note.**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own MR, but I do own a whole freaaking box of Kisses(r)**

Jess' POV (By me)

DANG! I think. DANG DANG DANG DANG DANG! I wish I knew some swear words. But being only a few months new to the outside world, I haven't really picked anything up yet. I don't really mind fighting Flyboys and Erasers, it's good practice for me. Problem is, I have a hard enough time flying WITHOUT having to kick their butts, but I won't admit it. I just suck it up and don't stop flapping, at any cost. Like now for instance. The Flyboys can see that I'm a weaker flyer, so two or three gang up on me, grabbing my wings and one arm, about to try and pull me limb from limb. So I use it against them. I let them hold all my weight, and use my other arm to grab a hold of one of their wings, pulling with all my might. With a satisfying metallic breaking sound, the mechanical wing comes out of its socket, and the Flyboy plummets to the ground. I flap like crazy, fighting to both stay in the air and get the other one off of me. But it wasn't working, we were losing altitude. As we fell past a really high tree, I broke of a branch and shoved it through the chest of the flyboy with all my remaining strength. With a few, almost pretty crackles of electricity, the Flyboy shuts down and tumbles to the ground. I manage to catch myself on a branch and lay on it as I watch the Flyboy fall, down, down, down... all I can hear are my gasping breaths. I don't hear the flock anywhere. I need to get up. I need to find them... I need to catch up... I need to... sleep...

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

S***! Where did Jess go? I look around franticly looking for her, with no such luck.

"Z! Behind you!" I hear Gazzy yell. I look and find two Flyboys coming at me. I look in front of me and find two more. What the heck? I look back and forth thinking. I tuck in my wings, falling rapidly to the forest ground. I look above me and find that it worked. The Flyboys collided and made a huge firework-like explosion. I hope Gazzy enjoyed that. I realized I was still falling. I look down and found a branch to land on. I expand my wings slowly, to catch my fall, and land on the branch. I catch my breath while scanning the floor. I see a small figure on the floor. It could be a Flyboy, but then again it might not be. I slowly float down towards it. As it gets closer, I can see what it is.

"Jess!" I yell running towards her. She doesn't stir. "Jess please wake up!" I say while shaking her shoulder. Nothing. "Jess if you die, I will haunt you in the afterlife and kill you!" I yell, knowing it doesn't make any sense. But I can't stand the thought of Jess dying. "PLEASE WAKE UP!"I scream into her ear. But nothing. Then I hear footsteps behind us. I look at them deadly. If they think they'll get close to Jess think again. But all I see is the flock.

"What happened?" Max asked. I shake my head. She stoops down next to Jess.

Please Jess, don't leave me, I pray.

Z's POV (By me)

Max checks Jess's pulse, while I can hear mine in my ears. Then she looks up and says, "It's not bad, she's just asleep. I guess she couldn't fly and fight at the same time..."

"I should have been watching for her," I say. "I should have been making sure she was ok! But I didn't and then she-"

"Z," Fang interrupts. Not loudly, but still strong enough to stop even Nudge from talking. "She did fine, I was watching her out of the corner of my eye. she just got tired, because she's not as used to flying as we are, or fighting, let alone both at the same time." As I thought about this, I realized he was right. Then Iggy lay down in the grass and began to make himself comfortable.

"What are you doing?" Nudge asked.

"The way I see it, or don't see it, Jess is out for the night, so we have two options. One, we camp out for the night and continue in the morning, or two, we keep flying and carry her with us. She's not heavy, but we're all pretty wiped, and judging by the temperature, it's getting late. So I'm going to sleep."

So that was that. We all lay down in the grass, Max next to Fang, Nudge next to Iggy, Gazzy next to Angel, and me next to Jess.

Jess's POV (By me)

I sit up, wide awake, and wonder what woke me up, that didn't wake anyone else up. It's early morning, late enough for the sun to count as up, but early enough for everyone else to still be asleep. I sit still, barley breathing, listening for any sounds. Just as I was about to lay back down and forget about it, I heard it. It was just a small rustling, so quiet that only and adrenaline-wired bird-kid could her, I whipped around to face the source of the noise, curling into a crouch. Full defensive mode, lungs filling with air, ready to scream or shout to wake up the others in an instant.

It was a group of men, dressed in suits. my instincts screamed, _Erasers(!)_ but then when I really looked at them, they didn't seem like Erasers, somehow... there was something about them, that I couldn't put a finger on...

They catch sight of me, and just look at me for a second, afraid of my defensive position, and wierded out by all the "bodies" around me. They're definitely a little freaked out by me. Good.

"Are you Jess Tanners?" So they speak (insert mock gasp here) "or is she..." They glance warily at the flock lying on the ground, looking very dead-like. I don't answer, I just stand my ground, unmoving, glaring at them, daring them to move. Just try and take one step closer to us, I think. See what I do.

"We'll need you to come with-" he doesn't get to finish. I jump at them, snapping out my 13-14 foot wings, almost throwing out a warrior shout. They just haul A- right outta there, leaving me glaring in their direction thinking, 'Yeah you better run!'

When the flock woke up, I didn't say anything about it. Who needs to know, right?

**EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW, JESS. EVERYONE... Been working on my Creeper voice. Got it down outloud, but it needs work 'on paper' How was that? XD LUVS!**


	5. Seperation

**Third part! WOOT! Phew, didn't think I'd make it, there, for a minute. People are literally yelling at me (as I type) to hurry up so we can go somewhere. Well, this wouldn't happen if I actually ever got a chance on the computer! (ahem) so here you, go, your waiting has been rewarded! Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own MR.**

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)  
We were all pretty hungry. After the whole thinking Jess died I was hungry as ever. We were all deciding on where to go. We flew around aimlessly, not finding a single town. I looked over to check on Jess, she was doing just fine. I licked my lips, for some reason I could tasted steaks. My stomach growled, and I could hear Dylan {He's still with us} laugh quietly. I wanted to tip my wing a bit so he could lose his balance, but then I would swerve into Angel and she would totally get me for that.

"Hey do you guys smell that?" Iggs asked. We looked at him and he was sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Max asked.

"STEAKS!" he shouted, pointing to the ground. When I looked, I could see a small little town. What the heck? Where did this come from?

"Tuck and roll," Max ordered. I made that one up. Seeing as "Let's land and not get spotted" was a bit of a mouth-full. We all landed next to the dumpster in the ally of the diner. I walked over to Jess and smiled. She smiled back, but something seemed to trouble her. One thing I know about Jess is that she keeps to her self ... a lot. So I didn't ask.

"What can I get you?" the diner lady asked. We were all at the bar. Almost taking up the whole counter, even. The guys ordered two steaks, and the girls ordered various sandwiches. I ordered steak. Go figure. Before the food got here, we took in our surroundings. Everyone looked human, not even a smudge of wolf. Phew! There was a group of men in the corner that gave me the creeps, but I didn't mind it much.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Jess said. Naturally, I got up to go with her. "No you stay, make sure no one takes my food," she added with a smile. I looked at her, unsure.

"Its okay," Max said. I looked at her with disbelief.

"She can take care of herself, plus I don't see anyone who could cause trouble," Angel said. I narrowed my eyes at her. I've heard the flock talk about past stories, and it seems that Angel was a bit, uh how should I put it? CRAZY! But when I looked back at Jess she was gone. I sighed and sat back down.

The flock started to talk in whispers, I didn't pay attention though. I started to look around. Then I noticed a girl in the window. She looked sick, but not the kind where it's a fever or something, but a sick were you haven't eaten in years. I felt sorry for her, I know what it's like to not really eat in weeks. Before the flock, I was forced to steal food. Trust me, it wasn't an easy life. Some of the food came, and I had an extra side dish, that I hadn't ordered.

"Lucky!" Gazzy crowed. I smiled at him, then took the mashed potatoes and went outside.

"Where-?" Max began, but then she saw the girl. I walked outside and saw the girl staring at me. I handed her the bowl.

"Here," I said. She looked at me, unsure, a little afraid. I pushed it toward her. "It's okay, I just don't want you to starve." She smiled a 'thank you' and took it, running away with it. I smiled at her, she reminded me of my little ... Never mind. I shook my head, making myself forget the memory. I left that part of my life years ago. I'm not turning back. I went back into the diner and instantly saw that the creepy group was gone. That's a relief. I went back to the counter and saw that Jess's food had come, but she didn't.

"Where's Jess?" I asked. Everyone looked at me.

"Didn't you see here coming out of the bathroom?" Max said while looking back. She had a confused look on her face.

"No I didn't see her."

"Some people took her," Angel said. We all looked at her.

"What?" I asked, deadly as sin.

"They didn't seem bad, they just wanted to talk to her."

"You didn't want to share that with us because?" Max asked, a bit ticked herself. She didn't care for Jess as much as I did, but Jess was a part of the flock, nonetheless. No bird-kid left behind. Angel shrugged. I felt my anger rise, and I actually leaped at her.

"Z!" Max shouted. Iggy was the one to hold me back.

"You don't care about Jess! You brat! How could you let those creeps take her!" I shouted. Everyone in the diner was looking at us.

"Get her outside!" Max ordered. Fang Iggy and Dylan pulled me outside. Still mad, but I didn't refuse. Max and Nudge stayed with Angel and Gazzy in the diner.

When we got outside, I took deep breaths.

"You are in SO much trouble," Dylan said. I looked at him, deadly. "Attacking a member of the flock is a big no-no."

"Shut up!" Iggy said, punching him. I looked away, secretly thanking Iggs.

"What got into you?" Fang asked. I shook my head. But he kept asking. I finally snapped.

"SHUT UP! I KNOW! I KNOW I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO ACT THAT WAY! I GOT IT! BUT JESS IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME! SHE'S THE ONLY ONE THAT GETS ME! NOBODY ELSE UNDERSTANDS!" I vented. They all stood there shocked. I've never shouted like that to them. I felt like crying, so I punched the wall. My hand started to throb. Stupid, really stupid. "I'm sorry you guys. I'm so so very sorry. I should just keep my big mouth shut."

**OOOH, my first major clifie. don't worry, the next chapter is super-uber-duber-extra long. Seriously. So you will have to be paitent with me, it will take quite some time to edit. LUVS!**


	6. Family Ties

**Phew, took me long enough didn't it? This past week has just been absolutely crazy. Anyways, this is the chapter where the 'slight hinted crossover' comes in. I'd tell you more about it except I don't want to ruin it for you. So just go read the story!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own MR. But I did just finish Angel! May I say my head exploded? It did! Oh yeah, and I don't own any of the Wilson family :( They belong to a certain comic book company that rocks my socks off.**

Jess's POV (By me) 

I slide out off of my stool and wind my way through all the people. Jeez, isn't this supposed to be a _sit down_ place? I paused in a space between some tables, looking around for a sign that said 'Bathrooms'. I spotted a weird group of guys at a table, and almost didn't have a second thought about them. Then I realized, they looked kind of familiar. Almost like... oh no. it was those one guys from the woods! How do they keep finding me? I duck behind some people, out of_ their sight. _I dodge through the people to the bathrooms, thinking, _they didn't see me, they didn't see me, they didn't see me..._ I burst into the bathroom like I was being chased by rabid zombies **(A/N: Can Zombies even **_**be **_**rabid?)**. Luckily, no one else was in there. As I was washing my hands, I thought about who they might be. They weren't Erasers, but that didn't mean they didn't work for the School, they might have finally found me, and now they want me back. But why wouldn't they want anyone else? Another possibility is my dad hired them to find me and drag me back home, so that I didn't tell anyone important that he locked me in the basement my whole life. I decide that I need to tell everyone what happened in the woods, tell them that there are weird guys following us, asking me to come with them to who knows where. I open the door, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. There's the flock, across the room. I exhale, and take a step towards them. A hand grabs my arm, not tight enough to cause a scene, but tight enough to make me do my deer-in-the-headlights impression. A voice in my ear says, "Here's what's gonna happen. You're going to comewith me quietly, not make a sound, and get in the car like I'm your uncle. Ok?"  
I can see the flock. They're _right there. _Scream, run, cause a scene, do _something_. Don't let them take you!

I feel myself nod.

He leads me out into the parking lot, and there's a big, nice, silver car waiting there for us. I climb into the middle seat quietly, on my own. There's two in the front, and now one on each side. I'm boxed in; I have to go where ever they take me. It's really quiet, no one says anything. I wonder what would happen if I started to strike up a conversation? We drive for maybe half an hour. Z, at least, has to have noticed I'm gone by now. Will they find me? We drive into a suburb, nice, but at the same time not a neighborhood where all the houses look the same. We pull up to a house, right up into the drive way, and I'm told to "come on" and we file out of the car. We walk up to the door like a parade. I'm in the middle, with two of them in front of me and two behind.

The house is two stories, while most of the ones around it are just one. Using my bird-powered skills, I can hear someone tuning a guitar upstairs. There's a little tree in the front yard, with its leaves all orange because of the fall. When we actually get to the door, I'm front and center while they surround me from behind, while one of them knocks and rings the door bell.

As innocent as it looks, I'm suddenly very afraid of what's inside that house.

The guitar playing stops and I hear someone come down the stairs and walk to the door. It opens. It's a boy, who must be my age, because we have the exact same build. He has curly blonde hair, and bright green eyes. He's wearing a turtle neck sweater that covers his throat. he doesn't look as though he was expecting us. Is that a good sign? He gestures for us to come in while he turns as if to go find someone who knows who the heck we are. In nano-seconds I have a plan.

The two behind me will part around me to get in, leaving an empty space for me to run, snap out my wings, and fly. Back to the flock. Back to safety. They start to move apart, and I brush he hair out of my face with one hand out of habit, preparing myself to run... NOW!

As soon as the gap is wide enough I spin on my heel and jump from the porch to the grass in one move. I hear them shouting behind me but I'm already gone. Off the grass, and onto the sidewalk. As I open my wings, not caring if anyone sees them, I hear one of them behind me, but it's too late. I jump a super-human height into the air and-WHAM! I hit the sidewalk, my left wing pinned under my shoulder, with all my weight and all the weight of the guy who tackled me. Can I say, OW! As I think about it, I realize the left side of my face hurts too. But I can't tell how bad it's hurt because it's throbbing.  
The Neanderthal who tackled me grabs me by the shoulders and pushes me towards the house. The doors still open and all the men in suits are standing in front of it so that I can't see into the house yet. I feel like a kid who's been caught sluffing and is being dragged back to class. As we enter the house, a woman with curly brown hair and bright green eyes walks in, drying off her hands.

"What's all his noise-" she stops, seeing us all in her living room. "What did you do?" she shouts. At first I think that she's talking to me, and then I realize she's yelling at _them. _The one holding my shoulders quickly lets go, and they all start stammering explanations. Someone gently takes my wrist. I look up and see that it's the blonde boy again. He leads me to the kitchen, and we can still hear the woman (his mom, I guess) yelling at the man. It's a little harder to walk through the halls, because I can't fold my wings in, at least not the left one, it hurts too much. It bends out from my body at an awkward angle, but I don't think it's broken, just bruised badly enough that I can't move it.

He sits me down at a bar stool next to the counter, and begins to look through the cupboards. I watch as he pulls out a first-aid kit and sets it on the counter next to me. He takes a wet rag and dabs at the left side of my face. When he pulls it away, see that the rag is red. Holy crap I'm bleeding!

"Did I get it on anything?" I ask. He stops and looks at me quizzically. "Did I bleed on anything?" I clarify. He smiles a little and shakes his head, then continues to clean the blood off my face. The shouting continues in the other room.

"Adeline, I mean, uh, Mrs. Wilson, you never clarified that she had to come _willingly_..."

"I thought that it would be perfectly clear. I told you that I wanted you to bring her here _safely and legally_."

"But-"

"Just get out. And don't come back, _ever_." the door slams and the boy and I both jump slightly. I hear Adeline sigh, and then she walks into the kitchen. We look at her, and his hand is hovering just above my face, about to wipe off the rest of the blood.

"Joseph, could you... give us a minute?"

He nods, puts down the rag and walks out of the room. It's silent as Adeline and I look at each other in silence. The only thing that breaks it is the soft piano music coming from upstairs. I want to ask her, no, demand to know, what's going on. Where was I, and why was she doing this to me? but my voice had left me. All I could do was sit there and bleed.

"Jess," she said, and I wondered how she knew my name. "Do you know who I am?"

"Adeline Wilson?"

She laughs. Not at me, but because of me, like I was a little kid and had said something cute. "Well, yes, I guess I am. but what I meant was..." she trails off, walking towards me, putting one hand on my right cheek, leaning in like she's going to tell me a secret. "Jess, I'm your mother."

I stare. And stare. And then stare some more. Then say, "No. No, my mother died when I was born." because I was born. She almost smiles a little bit.

"Jess, think about it. Who told you that?"

"My dad."

"He's not your dad."

"What?"

"He's not your dad. He just thinks he is."

"What do you mean?" this whole time, pretty much, she'd finished cleaning off my face and had put a couple, cute little 'butterfly' bandages, the ones that pinch your skin together, on the scratch that ran from my cheek bone to my jaw. Normal kids would have to have stitches for that, so either she wasn't worried, or she knew I would heal fast enough to not need stitches. She led me to the front room again and we sat on the couch. She started to explain everything.

"About fifteen years ago, I found out I was pregnant for the second time, and I was so happy. At the time, I had a wonderful life, a beautiful family, and I was about to add to it. Then there was Robert, a friend of my husband, your real father. He seemed ok at first, but he had this horrible memory problem because of an accident he'd been in. it didn't help that he also enjoyed drinking. He was convinced that your father. Though, we'd never actually _been together_. I could never convince him otherwise, so I just let him think what he wanted, things would sort themselves out. I found out I was having twins, a boy and a girl. Robert was happy about the boy, but didn't want anything to do with a girl. So he sold you, without you even being born, and without me knowing. He made me live with him, because my husband couldn't be home almost at all. I kept trying to leave, but... then he was always putting things into my food, things that the people who he'd sold you to told him to use. I found out, but I didn't let him know that I knew. I made sure that the people who bought you, never found you. They lost all record of you. Once I knew you were safe, I ran away, back home. Robert didn't think to look there, or maybe he just forgot where we lived. Then, soon enough you were born. I paid the doctors and nurses a lot to make sure they wouldn't tell anyone about your wings. I didn't know what I'd do, yet, but I was going to give you the best life possible. But after you were two, he kidnapped you. He still believed that one day someone was going to come, pay him, and then take you away. I did everything to find you, and soon enough, I thought you were dead. There was no way Robert could raise you. Then, a few months ago, I thought of looking for you again. I thought you might still be alive somewhere. I went to Robert's house, and he was drunk so he told me all about locking you in the basement, and how you'd run away, so now he was trying to drink himself to death in case you told anyone about him. So he wouldn't have to go to jail, because he was dead. Then I hired a team of private investigators to find you. That's who that was, and if they think I'm paying them for _this_..."

I sat and tried to take it all in. while I was thinking about it, she leaned over and hugged me saying, "I'm just so glad to have you back."

I hugged her back, not knowing what else to do. Then, I thought of something. I opened my mouth to tell her, and then closed it again. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I would have to leave again soon, to be with the flock. Maybe even tomorrow morning. Somehow, I thought it would ruin the moment.

Instead I asked, "Joseph's my twin brother?"

Creative, right? She pulled back to look at me, smiling, and said, "Yes."

"And he's normal?"

"Well, no, not exactly. He doesn't have wings, if that's what you're asking. It's his father's fault he developed some, unusual abilities. While you, you have wings because some people were tampering with Mother Nature." I felt a little better, knowing that I wouldn't stand out too bad here.

"Mom," I said. I don't know why I called her that, it just seemed right, somehow.

"Yes?"

"Could you help me?"

"Yes. What do you need?"

"Um... when I tried to run... I landed on my wing, and now it kind of hurts, and I can't really move it too much on my own, so I was wondering, if you could..."

Without a word, she gently took hold of my wing, and slid it into place, under my shirt. "Like that?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Anything else? Are you hungry? Because it's about time for dinner."

"Yeah," I say, I'm starving, I haven't eaten all day, and I'm wiped. Bird kids need like, twice as much to eat a day as normal kids. "But I kind of eat a lot."

She smiles again. "Don't worry, I'll make extra"

After dinner, I can hardly keep my eyes open. I help clean up, and then make my way back to the couch to sleep. I'm asleep for a minute, and then I'm aware of someone-I'm not sure who-carrying me up the stairs, and putting me into a bed. I'm going to say thanks, but I don't need a bed, the couch is fine, when I fall asleep again.

I wake up wondering where I am. Then I remember. Oh yeah, I have a family now. I remember something else. The flock. They'll find me today, and I'm glad to be with them again, but I know I'll miss Joseph and my mom. I stumble down the stairs (weird, when I changed into sweats?) and find the kitchen again. Mom is making eggs, and Joseph is sitting at the counter. Both are still in their PJs, and I sigh in relief that I wouldn't be grossly under-dressed. I sat down next to Joseph, and decided to indulge myself in some sisterly teasing.

"Nice hair, bed-head"

_Glad you like it, I did it this way to match yours, morning-breath,_ he signed, rather than said.

"Wow, you two are already starting to sound like siblings," mom cut in. I giggled a little, and Joseph leaned back grinning. I guess mom already explained everything to him. Good, less awkwardness for me. While we were waiting I watched my new family, picking up on a few things. One, we all had a habit of pushing our hair out of our faces constantly. Especially when we all had curly, just-got-out-of-bed hair. Second, now that Joey had a shirt on that didn't cover up his throat; I saw that he had a scar there. That would explain why he didn't talk, I guess. Then mom had to leave for work, and she went the rounds, hugging and kissing us, telling us to be good and everything.

"Oh and Jess, I have some extra clothes in my closet that'll fit you, and you can use them until we get you some of your own," she said as she walked out the door. I just smiled and nodded, pretending that I wouldn't be leaving today. I could just grab the clothes I'd been wearing yesterday. The door closed and we listened to the car driving away. Then Joey turned to me.

_You're not staying, are you? You have people waiting for you?_

"No, I'm not," I answer. "The flock, the people I've been living with, they'll probably be coming today, especially Z."

_Who's Z?_

"A member of the flock, the one I'm closest to. We're like sisters, and it probably didn't go over well when she found out that I'd been... that I'd left."

_And the flock, they're like you? They can do certain things like you?_

"Well, yeah, we can all fly, but that's all I can do, is fly, while they can do more."

_You do more than fly._

"No I don't, what can _I _do?"

_You learn fast._

"I what?"

_Think about it. You've basically lived in basement your whole life right? So, you shouldn't know how to read or write or anything like that. Like right now, no one taught you ASL did they? But you just know it. Like it was pre-programmed into your brain. Have you ever thought of that?_

"No... I guess I haven't. It just came so... naturally, you know?"

Joseph leaned back in his chair and thought for a minute, then signed, _Go get dressed, and then come back. I want to try something._

I went upstairs into mom's bedroom, and then stepped into the walk-in closet. Apparently,_ my_ clothes were being washed. I shuffled through the clothes and found some things that fit me, and even looked kind of nice. On the way out, I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, trying to fix my hair a little. I'd never looked at myself in a mirror all that much, so it was always weird to do so. The only thing new to my reflection was the red line on my left cheek where I'd gotten scratched. Seeing as they were no longer needed, I peeled off the bandages before I went back down into the kitchen.

Joey had gotten ready too, and was typing on a laptop at the kitchen table. Without looking up, he gestured me to come sit down next to him.

He clicked something, and then signed, _See if you can understand this._

I listened, and then heard someone speaking some foreign language, really fast. But the gibberish only lasted a second, because soon, I understood it as if it was English.

"I know what they're saying!" I said excitedly. He grinned, silently laughing.

_Ok, but can you speak it?_

"Magsalita kung ano?" I asked. I meant to say it in English, I thought it in English, but when I said it, it didn't come out the same. I laughed, giddy with excitement. "What language is that?"

_Something called Tagalog, _he grinned. _Ok, try reading this..._

He typed on the keys some more, then turned the screen to face me. Again, at first I could only see gibberish, random letters numbers and symbols. But the longer I looked at it, the more sense it made. It slowly melted into English, just like the Tagalog. I smiled again, "I understand it! But what is it?"

_It's an old Galician code._

"But _how_ did they-? No, _why_ would they...?" I asked, starting to realize something. I'd been made for a purpose, but what was all this for? He thought about it for a minute.

_Probably... so that when you were born... you could break codes, listen to conversations in other countries, SPY on people for them, all the while looking like a dumb American girl, standing innocently in the corner. They could use you as a weapon, or tool, in winning wars and stuff. Or even causing them._

I sat for a minute, staring at my hands. A minute ago, I was incredibly happy and excited to find out what I could do, but now I was afraid of what I could _do._

"We can't let it happen. We can't let them find me," I looked back up at him, and he shook his head, contemplating what could happen, like I was.

_Now you definitely can't stay here._

"Why not?"

_My dad-our dad. If he figured it out, he'd find them and give you to them, because he knew it would win wars. And he might even do it for free._

I nodded. I didn't know anything about our dad, just my fake dad. I'd never thought to ask. But if he was this bad...

"Can we get on the roof?" I ask. "So they can see me when they come?"

He nodded and got up, gesturing me to follow. We went to what I assume was his room. It was kind of messy, but not in the normal teenage way. His bed was made, and there was a guitar laid on it. Sheet music littered the floor, some printed, and some written. He opened the window, and we climbed out onto the roof. We sit there for a minute, before I think of something.

"Why yellow?"

_What?_

"Why is your room painted yellow? I mean, _yellow_?"

He grinned, and I laughed.

**Well, there you go. Sorry the chapter was uber-confusing. If you have questions just ask and ill clarify the best I can. Anyone wanna guess what comics they come from? Oh, and BoOkWoRm, you aren't allowed to guess, because you already know. And if there happens to be anyone reading this who knows me in real life, you can't guess either. If you think you have the answer, PM me. If you can't PM cuz you don't have an account, then leave it in a review. Contest closed when someone guesses right, or whenever I get bored of it. I don't have a prize or anything, except like a bunch of cyber-cookies, but feel free to make suggestions. Ok, I'm out! Luvs!**


	7. Wait, What?

**Yes, yes I am alive. And still busy. Curse you school! (hehe, get it? School? Maximum Ride?) Anyway, I guess that last chapter made some sense to you guys, seeing as no questions were asked, so I'm just gonna get into the next chapter then. And no guesses on who the Wilsons are? Lazy. Here's a tip: go to Wikipedia, type in Joseph W. Wilson, and ta-da, they're both right there, and BAM, you win the contest. Or just continue to be lazy, like me. **

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Maximum Ride. Or Adeline (sadface). Or Joey (moves from sadface to cryface)**

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

We were headed west and I was going as fast as I could, the flock keeping up. Then all of a sudden I see this figure pop out of nowhere. Now, I have two options: 1) Stop immediately and let the object past, or 2) Keep going and run right into it, sending myself back onto the ground, and hurting myself.

Guess which one I chose?

I kept flying and smacked right into it. I could feel my bones ache as I fell to the ground, but I also felt something catch me. I looked up to see Dylan, and me in his arms. He descended to the ground, and as soon as his feet touched the ground I jumped out of his arms. I saw the flock coming down too, Fang carrying something.

"Are you okay?" Nudge asked. I nodded.

"What a way to lead the flock," Dylan joked. I gave him a cold look. "Come on be nice to your savior." I looked away from him, cussing under my breath. I looked to see what Fang held in his arms. It was a girl. The girl outside the diner… Fang put her down so Max could examine her. She was brown in color, with short black hair. She was small in size. The thing that caught my attention was her wings. Her RED wings. Where will you ever find colored wings like that? I got closer and sat next to the girl. Max was shaking her shoulder, and the girl woke up.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She looked at me and I guess she recognized me. She nodded and stood up. She looked at all our faces taking us in. Her gaze landed on me, and I saw concern and worry.

"Your friend," she said.

"Yes? What about her?" I asked. If she had any new information, I needed to know it.

"Men, they took her," she answered. OK, not new.

"Yah I know, were trying to find her," I said.

"I know where they took her." _This_ was new. "I was following them, because your friend had a sad look on her face. I saw where they took her and came back to tell you."

I nodded. "Can you take us to her?" She nodded but then I saw her eyes droop.

"What's your name?" Max asked. The girl looked up at her.

"Liz, "she said. Max smiled.

"I'm Max; this is Fang, Z, Iggy Dylan, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel." Liz nodded and then fell asleep.

"Should we leave her here?" Dylan asked. I looked at him.

"No, we can't do that," I replied.

"So you would rather stay with her, then go save Jess? Who, by the way, you practically kill a member of the flock for," he said. No that isn't true. I need, want, to go get Jess. But I can't just leave Liz here, either. I can't leave anyone behind.

"What are you going to do?" Dylan asked. "Each second is important, depends on you." He was pressuring me so much, and on purpose. I could feel something in my stomach grow hot. Dylan continued to lay it on thick. The heat in my stomach grew hotter and hotter. Crap!

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!" I heard Iggy shout and then punch Dylan. But I couldn't take that in and savor it. I couldn't laugh and thank him. Because I was falling to my knees in pain, my stomach literally feeling like it was going to kill me.

"Z!" It was a girls voice, but I couldn't tell who. Everything was going black, I couldn't see. My eyes started to close. "Z! WAKE UP! DON'T SLEEP, STAY AWAKE!" The voices started to fade. Then I couldn't feel anything, except the burning taking over me. Like a cocoon wrapping around my body.

{Next day}  
I woke up feeling like new. No aches, no pains. I look around and its mid morning. I get up to see where the flock was.

"You're awake?" I hear someone say, like it was completely impossible. I look over to see Max and Fang starring at me. I look at them confused.

"Yah, why?" I asked then all of the memory of yesterday played in my head. I shot up and expanded my wings.

"What are you doing?"Fang asked.

"Getting Jess." Max grabbed my hand.

"Wait," she said. I felt obligated to follow orders. She and Fang woke up the rest of the flock, and Liz. She smiled morning to me, and I smiled back.

"What happened to you?" I heard Iggy. I turned to see his concerned and confused face.

"I'm not sure, but I'm fine now. Let's go get Jess." He nodded, knowing that I'll explain it later. Right now Jess is what we need to focus on.

"Which way?" I asked Liz. She expanded her beautiful red wings and flew to the sky. We all followed her. She was a very fast flyer. Within seconds we were flying over rooftops.

"Z!" I heard someone call me. I looked around to see who it was. Jess! Then I saw him, a boy standing next to her. Adrenaline pumped through me. Jess waved over to me. I flew down, blood boiling. I could see Jess smiling at me, and I flew right past her, tackling the boy who no longer stood next her. I heard her gasp. I raised my fist ready to mess up this pretty boy face.

"Z don't!" I could feel Jess try to pull me off of him. I looked at her pleading face. "Don't hurt him! That's my brother!" she shouted. Shock ran across my face. I looked back at the boy, who was nodding. I quickly got up.

"Your brother?"I asked.

She helped up the boy. "Yes, my twin brother." The flock stared at the two. Jess and the boy looked the same age. The same height. Except, the boy had blond hair. The only thing similar between their looks really, was the curly hair and green eyes.

"Jess, you have some MAJOR explaining to do, " I said. She nodded and then got a look at Liz.

"Who's she?" she asked.

"Okay we both have major explaining to do."

Jess' POV (By me)

Joey and I sit on the roof for a while. We don't really talk at all because we don't feel the need to. We're fine just sitting there. Man, having a twin ROCKS! I'm sorry for those who don't have one. I keep my eyes on the sky, looking for really big birds. Joseph is looking too, but I'm not sure he'll be able to see them from this far away. But then again, mom did say he had 'unusual abilities'. Maybe he has super-senses. No way to know. After an hour (not sure, somehow time melted into a big meaningless nothing) and I saw a bunch of dots up on the sky. Was it...It was! I jumped right off the roof and Joseph followed. He was looking up into the sky right at them, so I guess he does have super senses after all. Z is in the lead by FAR and flying as fast as possible.

"Z!" I shout. She looks down, and I wave my arms like a crazy person. She dive-bombed, heading right to me. But then she goes right past me, and tackles Joseph!

"Z! Don't!" I grabbed at her arm, trying to stop her from killing him. "Don't hurt him! That's my brother!" She looked up at me, shocked, and then back down to Joseph, who nodded. She quickly got off of him.

"Your brother?" she asked.

"Yes, my twin brother," I said, helping him up. The flock just stared, mentally comparing us.

"Jess you have some MAJOR explaining to do," Z said. I nodded, and then saw a new girl in the back of the group. With red wings. Cool.

"Who's she?" I asked.

"Okay we both have major explaining to do," Z said.

So we exchanged stories, and introductions were made. The girl with red wings was Liz, she'd been at the diner and Z had given her food. Liz saw the men take me, followed us here, then went back to tell the flock. I liked her, plus she was even smaller than ME, which was cool, but also a little unsettling.

Then, we all heard something, and turned our heads to listen simultaneously. It was a car, entering the neighborhood. I turned to Joseph.

"Is that...?"

_My dad, _he looked at me seriously. _You need to leave, now, get as far as you can._

"Can I come back?"

He hesitated. The flock was just watching, confused, except Angel, because none of them knew what he was saying. _Maybe_._ Just not for a while, OK?_

I nodded then opened my wings, and everyone followed suit, understanding the need to leave, just not the reason. We took off into the air.

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I was so happy to have Jess back, and so glad that I didn't punch that guys face in. I had no idea she had a twin. But I'm also confused, why didn't we stay longer? I would like to get to know her family more. She is practically my sister, after all. But I followed her anyways, keeping my thoughts to myself. Well hopefully. I looked over at Angel who was talking animatedly with Nudge. Something about a new fashion trend. I rolled my eyes, they are such girls. I know, I know, that's big talk for me, seeing as I'm a girl too, but I'm so not into the whole, make-up and dresses scene. I wouldn't say I'd rather die, because I really do want to live. It's just girly things just don't agree with me. I'm more of the kick butt type chick. You know?

Anyways, I noticed that Max was in the lead again. She was leading the flock into a nearby cave. The mountains were cool to hang out in, but it was freezing. We landed and I instantly felt the cold breeze. Winter was coming soon, which would probably mean we would find a way to see Dr. Martinez and Ella. I really like them, but something about Ella irritated me. I don't know why. But I still like her.

"I'm going to scope out the mountains," Fang announced. Max nodded and the guys went with him. So it was just us girls. We all sat down, still on guard. You can't be too careful. I saw Nudge and Angel still talking about fashion, Liz just sitting there listening. Max was on look out. So I sat next to Jess, who looked deep in thought.

"Jess?" nudged her in the side. She looked at me shocked.

"Huh?" I laughed at her dorkyness.

"You were spacing out," I said. She smiled.

"Oh sorry. I was just thinking."

"About what?" I asked. She sighed.

"My dad."

"Your real dad or your fake dad?"

"Real." I nodded. I could imagine what she was going through. Being told the guy you thought was your dad for your whole life is not you real dad, it could be totally confusing. I put my arm around her to hug her.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked. She smiled up at me.

"Thanks, but maybe some other time," she said. I nodded understanding. I gave her one final squeeze before I let go of her.

"No! Red!" I heard Nudge shout. We looked over at her and she was staring at Liz with wide happy eyes.

"That's it! Thanks Liz! Angel, we could dye it red!" she said. Apparently Max had heard the whole thing.

"No, we are not! There is no way in hell," she said seriously. Jess and I looked at them confused.

"Please Max? You'd look so cute!" Angel was using her innocent, baby-blue-eyed look on her. Max looked away. I was barely catching on when the guys came back.

"What's with the yelling?" Fang asked.

"Nudge and Angel want to dye my hair red," she said. I tried not to show my amusement. Fang stooped down and grabbed a lock of Max's hair. Then something not so shocking happened. He kissed it.

"I think you'd look good with red hair," he said. She was obviously blushing, but pulled back, making him let go of her hair.

"Of course you would," she said. Dylan and Iggy snorted. Jess and I let out small laughs. We've heard Max talk in her sleep, and let me tell you, it was something no one wanted to hear. But it _was_ very interesting. Once in a while, when Fang and Max got into fights, she would murmur about him in her sleep, saying stuff about Fang and some red-headed wonder.  
Max looked at all of us cold and hard. We all shut up. I might be a good fighter but Max can still kick my butt, and everyone knows it.

"But what else can we do? I'm dying to do some make-overs," Nudge whined. I couldn't help it. I wanted to put a smile on her face.

"You can do it to my hair," I said. Everyone looked at me shocked.

"Really?" she asked.

I nodded, "Sure, I don't really care what you do to it. As long as you don't dye it red. Please, I'm miss-matched as it is." I had long black hair, and dark brown, bottomless eyes. My skin an olive color, mix it in with my wardrobe malfunction, and my gray wings, I look like some demented painting of a mix dark and light angel. Geeze. What was I getting myself into?

**Hmmm… not much happened, did it? Well, it'll get better, (loads better) next time. The next chapter should be like, over 4,000 words. Seriously. I just checked. So you'll be in for a ride. (lol, get it? Ride? *sigh* I need to stop doing that…) So, because I love you, and cuz it's a Saturday, I'll go start editing that, right now. **


	8. New Skills

**Here we go, this is a good chapter. This is a turning point. This is where things start to get deep. You may read this and say, "Wow!" (or not) but this is only the beginning, the tip of the iceberg. It gets so much bigger than this, people. So enjoy it while it's 'simple'.**

**Disclaimer: D-F-M, Son of a Bieber, still don't own Maximum Ride, or any of the Wilsons!**

**Dylan: Thank whatever deity you pray to.**

**Me: Hey! Lucky I don't own you, cuz then I'd probably kill you for that…**

**Dylan: ME? What did I do?**

**Me: *Gibbs Slap* Shut up and let them read, clone!**

Jess' POV (By me)

I lay on the floor of the cave, staring at the ceiling aimlessly. I can't sleep. I can never sleep. I think I have insomnia or something. Now that I have real parents, a real family, I start to wonder if I got it from one of my parents. I keep wondering stuff like that. As we took off earlier, I knew everyone besides Angel was wondering why we had to leave. But one unwritten flock rule is, don't ask too many questions about each other. Most of us didn't want to talk about our pasts, like at all. I had no idea where this Liz girl came from, but then she probably knew nothing about us either. We all just had to trust each other, which could be really hard sometimes. My body was exhausted, but my mind couldn't stop buzzing. I really wanted to go back, and be home again. From the moment I left, it felt like there was an imaginary rope connected to the house, tied around my middle, tying me to them. I sat up and walked over to the cave entrance. Z heard and followed me. She was about to ask where I was going, when I jumped off the edge, unfurling my wings. She just followed. I liked how we were close enough to not need to talk at all. I started flying towards home, my real home, but I knew I shouldn't go back there yet, so I made myself stop and land in a tree. Z landed in one next to mine, sitting on a branch across from me.  
"You know why we left?" I ask. Of course she didn't, I knew that, but I didn't know how else to approach the subject.  
"No. Why did we leave?"  
"Because his dad-my dad- was coming home. And he can't find me."  
"Ok," she said, then asked, hesitating a little, "Want to tell me why?"  
I took a deep breath, and then let it out in a rush, "Because he'd give me back. But I don't want to go back, it scares me, I don't want to."  
"Ok, it's ok, I'm never gonna let him find you. You're never going there." She knows what I can do, they all do, I explained it to them, so she knows how dangerous I could become if they were controlling me. But it's more than that, she cares about me, and wants me to be safe, and I feel the same way about her. I know she'll keep me safe.  
After a pause, I said, "I've been thinking..."  
"Yeah?"  
"Since it's gonna be winter, and everyone's going to Max's Mom's house, maybe I... could go home. I could plan it out, with Joseph, and make it work, find out when our dad won't be home, and... I wanted to know if you'd come with me?"  
"Yeah," she said, smiling. "It'll be hard to plan out, but I know you really want to go home, so, we'll make it work."  
"Ok, then we'll need to go talk to Joey, and my mom, figure something out..."  
"Let's go now."  
"What?"  
"It's in the middle of the night, and so your dad will be asleep. We can get there, talk to Joseph, who'll talk to your mom, and leave before anyone knows."  
"Really? Right now? Would it work? Is it a good idea?"  
"Absolutely," she smiles at me again.  
"Alright, then," I smile back.  
"Lead the way."

Third-person POV (By Me)  
Everything is quiet in the Wilson home, but the father of the house has super-human hearing, and heard something land on the roof, probably outside his son's window. Too loud for it to be just a bird, and also too loud to be anyone professional, so he doesn't worry about it. He lays back and listens. There's a small, sharp sound, like someone tapping on the window, then the sounds of someone getting out of bed, and opening said window.  
Mr. Wilson gets up out of his bed and goes across the hall, standing outside his son's door, listening. No one could've heard him; he'd had too much training for that. He could hear the whispered voices of two girls, making plans with Joseph, apparently. He was a bit confused, but didn't think much of it until he heard what they were saying.  
"Yeah I know it's a dumb idea, but still..." said the first girl. There was a pause and then she said, "Really? You think it'll work?"  
Another pause, then the second girl spoke up, "Jess, what's he saying? Can I_ please _be a part of this conversation?"  
"Z, shut it, you'll wake someone up, I'll tell you in a minute, ok?" said the first girl, Jess, followed by muttered swear words from Z.  
Jess continued, "Anyway, what did Mom say when she found out I left?"  
There was another, longer pause.  
"Ugh, I shouldn't have just left like that, I should've said something... yeah, I know, I couldn't stay...you're right, I know, we can't let dad find me, but still...Shut up, Joseph, I'll beat myself up about it if I want to."  
"Whatever your twin's saying, or, er, signing, is right. So is it a plan or not?" Z asked. What did she say about twin?  
"Yeah, we'll be able to come over, but only while Dad's gone. Luckily, Joey says he's gone a lot. Hey, what time is it...crap; we'd better go, bye, I'll come back as soon as it starts snowing, ok? And tell mom I love her and I'm really sorry I left."  
Soon, there was a rustle of feathers, and the window closed. Joseph sounded like he was getting back into bed, and his father decided to do the same, all the while thinking,_ I've got to meet this girl, she sounds...interesting..._

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)  
I followed Jess back to the cave. I saw everyone asleep. Shouldn't someone be on watch? I mean when we left, I didn't really notice, but now it kind of ticks me off. But I spoke too soon. I saw Iggy open his eyes, and look in the direction we came from. It amazes me that he can do that, even if he is blind.

"It's just us." I say as we land. I can see him relaxing.

"Where did you guys go, I was just about to wake up the flock." he said. I looked over the flock, and saw that Liz was cuddled up between Angel and Nudge. It's like Nudge and Angel found a new friend. I smiled at them. I think Liz was around ten, or eleven. Right between Angel and Nudge's age. I mean she was just as tall as Nudge, but she acted and looked like the same age as Angel. Maybe she's about Gazzy's age. I made a mental note to ask.

"Where did you guys go?" Iggy asked again. I looked at Jess, who was looking at me, hoping that I made up an excuse. I guess it would look weird if we told them that she was making secret plans to go spend Christmas with her family. I don't think she was ready to tell the flock. I hated to lie, to anyone. I gulped; I'm really a bad liar. What do I say?

"We went to go see, Joey," I said. Jess looked at Iggy. He looked at us confused.

"Joey? That guy from the house?" he asked.

"Yah, um, Jess and I were thinking that we could go spend Christmas over there, just to, you know get to know her family," I tried explaining. I looked at Jess who shrugged. Giving me a look that said _what can you do?_

"Jess's family? Just you two?" Iggs kind of looked hurt, but he was really good at hiding his emotions, when he wanted to. "If you guys want to go, I guess that would be cool, but that is totally up to you guys."

Jess said, "Yeah, but we know that Max has family to visit."

I put in, "And well, we aren't exactly in that family circle, you know?" He looked at me blankly. "But now that Jess has family we thought that we were immediately in their circle."

"Well that's Jess's family. What about you?" Iggy bit back his lips, realizing what he had just said. I felt pang in my heart. That little comment hit the spot. Jess has a mom, a real blood related mom, and a brother, and even a dad, even though the dad could be and evil bastard for all we know. But me? What family do I have, besides the flock? My life was taken from me. I don't have a mom, or dad, or siblings. Those evil white-coated jerks took them from me. What family do I got to go back to at the end of the day?

The hurt that I was too shocked to cover up showed on my face.

"Oh, geeze Z, I'm sorry. Forget what I said," Iggy's voice was filled with remorse. I shook my head. He was right. How do I know that Jess's family will take me in with open arms? I'm still the outsider.

"It's fine Iggs," I said. I walked to the back of the cave.

"Z, wait," I heard Jess follow me. I looked at her. She saw my face and instantly stopped. She felt so guilty, I could tell. I gave her a half-hearted smile. I continued to walk, consumed by the dark.

Jess' POV (By Me) Next Day

The next morning was quite eventful. Angel and Nudge had gotten everything they needed to dye Z's hair, but she was having second thoughts.

"Do I _really_ have to?" she asked.

"Yes," they answered in unison. Creepy…

Though, I couldn't help but giggle at Z's predicament. She was SO not girly. Hearing me giggle, she shot me a look. Then, that look turned…kind of evil.

"Hey guys," she said, turning to Angel and Nudge. "Don't you think Jess' hair would look really pretty if you dyed it? I mean, look, it's so curly and soft. Wouldn't it be great if you added something to that?"

Their eyes light up like a Christmas tree. Not that I've ever actually seen them, but you know. Nudge and Angel started babbling about how awesome this color or that color would look in my hair, but I cut it short.

"No, no one's dying my hair," I say.

"Aw, _please_?" said Angel. Oh no…she's using the Bambi eyes.

"Yeah Jess, just let them dye your hair," Z said. "Plus, _no way_ I'm going to be the only one."

I sighed in defeat. "Fine." The two younger girls squealed with joy and ran to get more dye out of their grocery bag. I saw Angel grab a 'Ravishing Red' one.

"No red!" I protested.

"But we need to do _someone's_ hair red," said Nudge.

"Do Liz's," suggested Z. Liz looked up in alarm.

"Man, you just can't stop roping people in, can you?" I asked.

Z shrugged. "I aim to please."

"You owe me. And Liz."

And the hair-dying began.

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)  
"Oh, man. This was totally a great idea." Dylan laughed. I looked at him with rage. I followed up on my promise, I let Angel and Nudge dye my hair, and I let them color it whatever they wanted, as long as it wasn't red. But I had no idea they would do _this_ to me.

"Um, girls, I thought we were trying to make it look not so obvious." Max said.

"Yah, but don't you think she looks so cool?"Nudge asked. Liz nodded; she isn't much of a talker. But I think her red streaks fit _her_ just fine…

"Yah, she looks just like Storm form x-men." Dylan laughed. I looked at him with a look that said _Shut up, before I kill you._ He laughed even harder.

"Don't worry, Z, I think the silver streaks fit you," Jess said. She was lucky, her and gold streaks looked cute, and weren't catching the flock's attention. I smiled at her, thanking her for the complement, anyway.

"Actually it does look really good on you," Fang commented. I smiled at him. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Iggy fidgeting.

"What does it look like?" He asked, irritated.

"It's like shooting stars in a midnight sky," Gazzy described. I smiled, I'm glad he thinks it that way. Actually, they died it pitch black, and _then_ added silver highlights. Iggy looked in my direction.

"Really? That sounds so cool," he said. I smiled again.

"She's smiling Iggs," Max said. I looked at her like she was crazy. Why did I find that so teasingly? Why are my cheeks burning? Max whispered in my ear, "Payback." It took me awhile to figure out what she meant. She was talking about that time in the forest. I told her to get up slowly because Fang was on top of her. Honestly, I only said it to get her up. Even though Max was a giant lead authority, she would have her fun.

Then out of nowhere, someone's stomach growled. We all instantly looked at Gazzy, but he shook his head, and pointed to Liz.

"Sorry. I'm just a bit hungry," she said. We all laughed.

"By the sounds of it, you more than a _bit _hungry," I teased. A small smile crept to her lips.

"Who's in for some grub?"Max asked. She didn't have to say it twice, a bunch of hands went up and a bunch of _oooh, me, me, me__'s_ and_ I do, I do__'s_ came out too. So lets all go eat.

Liz pointed out a little town. Country side I'm guessing. She mentioned something about a cow. I don't know. She flew on my left above me, and Jess flew on my right below me. Fang was right next to Max as always. Dylan kind of hung back with Iggy and Gazzy. And once more Nudge and Angel were talking girly again, talking about what they could do different next time. Honestly I don't think there will be a next time. But I don't say that to them.

We landed in the back of a rundown abandoned farm house. Immediately Iggy and Gazzy decide to go play in the hay bales. I think it's sort of fun, and I join them. Jess laughs at me and joins us too, dragging in Liz. Fang and Max laugh at all of us, while piling the hay onto us. Dylan watched us with curiosity, as in why we would do this kind of stuff. Nudge and Angel look at the hay in disgust. I roll my eyes, girls and their looks.

When were done we clean ourselves up. It's a good thing the hay didn't have any odor to it, or we'd be pretty smelly. We all laughed our way to a small cook kitchen. It's not really a restaurant, but hey if there's food, we're there.  
We all grab some grub and sit outside and enjoy the sun. I can tell Liz loves the sun because she's practically bathing in it. We all eat pretty slowly, not wanting to run off again. I look across the table to where Angel is sitting. The image of the last time we were eating out came to mind.

She flinched, obviously hearing my thoughts.

_Sorry Angel,_ I think. She gives me a small, forgiving smile.

"So where to next, cap?" Gazzy asks. Max squints as if she's looking at the answer.

"I don't know. Where do you guys want to go?" she asks. As long as we aren't on the run we can practically go anywhere, which is cool.

"Can we go to the beach?" Nudge asks.

"Again?" Max asks. When did they go to the beach? Jess and I look at each other, and I know exactly where she wants to go. To her family.

"Um, actually Max," I say, and she, along with the rest of the flock, look at me. "Jess and I were thinking that you guys were going to your moms." She opened her mouth to answer but Fang cut her off.

"You say that like you're not coming with us," he said. That caught me off guard. I totally gave us away. Defeated, I nodded. They all just looked at me, and I saw Jess pick at her food.

"Why?" he asked. I looked up at him, and he looked calm, but the way he said it came out in a bite. I just stared at him. "Why don't you want to come with us?" he asked again. I opened my mouth to answer, but Iggy beat me to it.

"They're going to visit Jess's family," he said. They looked at him in shock.

"How do you know?" Dylan asked. Iggy sighed.

"I heard them coming back one night, and I asked them where they went and they said they went to visit the boy from the house. Joey." He looks up, to no one in particular, but his gaze ends up on me. "Apparently they don't think that they are a part of Dr. M's family loop." I could hear the bitterness in his voice. He _so_ did not like that we didn't feel included.

"It's not that we don't think were part of that loop, but we feel more included in my family's group," Jess suddenly burst out. They looked at her, Max looked confused, but more mad than anything.

"But they kidnapped you! I don't call that family," she said. Jess shook her head.

"They didn't kidnap me, exactly; they just wanted to meet me. If it was really kidnapping then why hadn't they sent anyone to get me again?" she argued. That shut them all up. But they all looked pretty pissed. Suddenly I didn't feel like eating.

"So you two really want to go back?" Fang asked. We both nodded. Both Max and Fang sighed and looked at each other. Fang gave her a slight nod, and Max looked at us.

"Okay, but let's set up a meeting point so, after the family reunion, we can meet back up," she said. We both nodded and smiled at each other.

Next week  
We set the meeting point at the Rocky Mountains. They were going to Max's moms place, and we were headed to Jess's mom's place. We all set off, in our different directions.

"Were actually doing this," Jess said excitedly. I nodded in agreement. We flew for a few yards until we hear a small shout. We looked at each other. Okay we both heard it. We stopped flying, flapping only to keep ourselves up. We looked around looking for the noise. We heard it again. It sounded like a... "Wait"... is that what it said? Jess was the one to spot it. I looked in the direction she was pointing and saw something small following us. I squinted to get a better look. Then I noticed the red. I laughed.

"Wait!" she shouted. She caught up to us, and was catching her breath, panting.

"Hey, Liz," I said, slightly amused. She smiled at me. Wow she had the cutest smile I've ever seen.

"Ca-ca-can I- can I come- come with you?" she asked still panting. I looked at Jess who shrugged.

"Yah, sure," I said. She smiled again, and we waited a few seconds for her breath to catch up. Soon as that was done we set out. Headed for who knows what.

Couple hours later  
We've been flying for a long time. We're almost there. But we aren't supposed to be there for another few days. So we rested a few times. We were all sitting under a playground tunnel. It was nearly sunrise. We were hungry, but Max was the one with the money. So we would just have to wait for Jess's mom to feed us. I started to wake up Jess and Liz when I got a drop of liquid on my shoulder. I looked up and it was beginning to rain. I shoved the two awake, and put my hood up. They woke up startled and put their hoods up too. We didn't feel much like flying in the rain, so we started to walk. I looked to my left to see Jess in her dark brown hoodie that I'd swiped for her. In the middle was Liz in her red hoodie. Ironic huh? I myself wore a black hoodie so I could blend in with the night. Also to make fun of Fang. I don't know, it seemed like a good idea when I swiped it.

The rain came down pretty hard, soaking through our hoodies. Tired of it already, I put down my hood and just let the rain wash out the soot and dirt from my hair. It actually felt pretty good. The others looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was, as in letting people see my highlights. I just laughed a little.

We walked down the side walk, minding our own business, and we passed a couple people. Well they looked around our age, maybe even older. They gave each of us a dirty look. I was smart enough not to call them out on it. I've been on the streets for a long time. I know that if someone gives you that look they're looking for trouble. The smart thing to do is not give it to them. We past them and walked a little quickly than before. But I could hear them following. I knew that Jess and Liz could hear them too. We walked even faster. This put them in a jog. I saw Liz look back and she knew that was a mistake. As soon as she did one in a blue sweater attacked us.

Instincts kicked in and I spun around and kicked him in the side. He flew into a nearby wall.

"Run!" I shouted. Jess and Liz obeyed, and ran for it. I followed them, making sure that there was space between us and _them. _

I looked back and saw that all of them were girls. A smile crept to their faces. When I looked back I could see why. They cornered us. We were stuck in a dead end alley. Jess and Liz stood there looking ready to fight. The rain was still coming down hard, what are the chances of us getting away by flying? Before I could calculate, which I'm not really good at, I heard a small click. I turned around to face the oncoming girls. Three of them holding switch blade knives. I gulped. They were armed. Sure I've gone up against Erasers with guns, but something about a bunch of street kids with knives brought back some horrific memories.

One in a dark blue hoodie started walking toward us. The other two with knives following her.

"What do you want with us?" I heard Jess ask. I could hear the others laugh.

"It's not you we want. It's that little brat standing next to you," the blue one asked. We looked to see Liz narrow her eyes at them. They wanted Liz? Why? I looked at them with rage. I don't know why but all of a sudden I felt like no matter what, I had to protect her. Even if it meant losing my life, I couldn't let these girls get anywhere near Jess or Liz. I crouched ready for battle.

"If you want to get her, then you're going to have to die to get her," I was certain if I had to make the choice, there would be bloodshed. They looked at me like I was crazy. I could feel the rain start to let up, and my stomach start to burn again. Except instead of pain, it brought me comfort and pleasure. The one in blue came at me with her knife, obviously aiming for my stomach.

I reached out and hit her arm so that she dropped the knife, and then kicked the back of her knee so she fell to the ground. I saw Jess grab the knife and rush over to Liz. I punched the girl in the face, knocking her out, and got up to face off the others. Another armed one came at me, except she aimed for my chest. I dodged her and she came to an immediate stop, spinning around so that she slashed the knife upwards towards my face. I spun too and kicked her in the face. She flew backwards dropping the knife. I picked it up and handed it over to Liz.

"Don't use it unless necessary," I told her. She looked at me like she knew how to use a knife and I didn't need to tell her to be careful. I didn't have time to argue because the last one with the knife came at me, actually almost hitting me.

"What the hell are you?" she asked slashing at me. I grabbed her hand that was holding knife and twisted it pinning it behind her back, and taking the knife for myself. I whispered in her ear.

"Your worst nightmare come true," I said and shoved her into the wall, knocking her out.  
The other ones without the knives were left. I turned to face them, except I heard the cocking of a gun. All three of them held guns. Pointed right at us. That just got me even more pissed off.

"What, not man enough to fight us with your own hands? You so scared you had to pull out your stupid little toys?" I taunted. If I was standing in their place I would have shot me by now. But for some reason they didn't. They just looked at me freaked. I smiled evilly at them, thinking I had won by my sarcastic remarks. But then...

"Z! YOU'RE ON FIRE!" I heard Jess shout. I didn't need to look to know she was right. I could feel it. And boy did it feel good.

I laughed evilly as this idea hit me. I slowly expanded my wings, showing their full extent. The girls eyes bugged out and I laughed again.

"If I were you, I'd run," I said. Evilly, of course. Two did run, but one stubbornly raised the gun. I felt my heart stop as I realized that I might die. But then something strange happened.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a crate lift up in the air and fly across the alley hitting the girl in the head. SMACK! She went down like a ton of bricks. I could feel the fire leave me. I looked at the girl only for a second, blood coming out her head, not from the hit, from her hitting the ground so hard. I looked behind me and saw that Jess was looking back at the girl on the floor and back to Liz.

It took me a while to get that this was Liz's doing.

"How did you do that?" I asked. She simply looked at me.

"I'm a telepath," she said. My jaw dropped open.

"Telepath?" Okay, it's going to take a while to get used to this.


	9. Max's Fam

**Gah! I abandoned you for weeks! I'm so sorry, faithful readers! Sad! Sorry, been super busy. I'll make it up to you with another triple, if not by the end of today, then tomorrow, but this weekend you will definitely have three new little chapters, all bundled up nicely for you. Sound good? Ok.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it, blah blah blah on with the story!**

Max's POV (By BoOkWoRm)  
The flock and I flew in the opposite direction of Z, Jess, and Liz. I don't know why they'd rather go to Jess's kidnappers place instead of a well-known safe place. I just ignored it though; it was their decision. Besides it's not like they leaving the flock. A small voice in my head asked, 'Would it be that bad if they did leave?'

_NO MAX! Don't think like that! Of course it would be bad._ Even though they haven't been with us as long, they're still family. Even if Liz is a little hard to understand, she seems really close to Z and Jess. Of what I've observed she's only with us _because_ of Z and Jess. I sighed.

_Stop getting so worried Max. They'll be fine. _I heard Angel's voice in my head. I looked to see she was following behind Fang. I smiled at her and she smiled back. I took a deep breath, and then I could smell them. Chocolate Chip Cookies. I looked down to see steam coming off a house. I smiled at the sight.

"Were here," I informed the flock, but of course they knew, they could smell the cookies just as good as I can. Well, Iggy could probably smell them better, but let's not get logical here.  
We flew down near the back. I had called mom a day ahead, just to let her know. It was kind of confusing too, because we had to come up with a code, to stay in touch with her. Anyways we were home now. As soon as we touched ground the back door opened and Ella, my half sister, came running up to us. I met her half way and we met in a tight hug.

"Max! I've missed you so much!" she said. I squeezed her tighter, but carefully so as not to hurt her. Someone behind me cleared their throat. I let go of her and she hugged the rest of the flock. The next person I saw was my mom. She smiled at me. Her brown hair tied up in a ponytail and wearing plaid. She looked young. I smiled at her and ran to her, and gave her a hug.

"Hi, I've missed you too." she laughed. I looked up to see her face. The same face that had helped me so long ago when my wing was shot.

"I've missed you too mom," I said. She kissed my forehead. She led everyone inside and into the kitchen. The scent of chocolate chip cookies filled the air. My stomach growled at the scent, but even more so when I saw them. Fresh out of the oven.

"Hi guys!" I heard a familiar voice greet. I looked down to see an old friend. Black and furry.

"Hi Total," I said. Angel scooped him up in a hug.

"Easy there, don't crush me," he joked. We all laughed. Akila walked into the room. She barked a greeting and I gave her head a swift pat.

"Hi Akila. How you been?" I asked. She barked again. My guess is she's fine.

We all ate like a thousand cookies, okay maybe not that much, even bird kids have their limits. We were all sitting in the living room, catching up when a major rain storm came in. I could see the worry in the flock's faces. Not for themselves, but for the girls. I hope they didn't get caught in it. I looked away from the storm and to Ella who had just gotten off the phone.

"Mom, a friend of mine just called and said that they got caught in the rain just as their car broke down. They're close to our place. You think they could wait out here until they can get a tow truck?" she asked.

"Sure honey. Where are they now?" mom asked. Ella smiled.

"They're just down the street." she said. They got up and made plans to go get them. I guess there was more than one. Ella, Iggy, Fang and I went on the search party. Dylan tried going but I told him that he had to help my mom keep the rest of the flock in control. Okay I didn't tell him, I ordered him. He took it as a serious assignment, and I laughed a little. We went down a couple blocks and Ella was the one to spot them out.

"There." She pointed to a group walking our way. One waved at us.

"Ella!" It was a girl. She had short red hair, and was so skinny that I could snap her like a twig. If I wanted to.

"Saddie!" Ella sped up to meet up with her.

Ella and Saddie hugged, and Saddie looked relieved. "Oh my gosh. Thanks so much Ell," Saddie said. She didn't notice us until Ella pointed us out.

"I think Ig-Jeff, could help see what's wrong with your car," she said. She almost slipped up on our covers. Saddie looked at each of us. She saw Iggy and smiled.

"You can? That would be great," she said.

So we went back to their car, and Iggy tried figuring it out. Ella and some guy named Ethan were telling Iggs what they saw and think was wrong. Iggy asked questions just to clarify. I would have helped, but I'm not so educated on cars. Also some guy named Nate was trying to hit on me.

"So what's your name?" he asked. I didn't look at him, but I answered.

"Nanya," I said.

"Nanya what?" he asked. I couldn't smile.

"Nanya business," I said. I mean come on he should have seen that coming. Anyone could have. But he still didn't back down. He laughed.

"Ahhh, your one of those chicks who plays hard to get," he said. I looked over at Fang, who was asking the driver, a girl named Tia, who looked like she came from Hawaii or something, what happened when the car broke down. I sighed, I felt useless. But what could I do? Besides keeping this creep company.

"So do you live around here?" he asked. I shook my head. "How do you know Ella?" I could feel him get closer and I stepped away a bit. He chuckled. "Don't be like that," he said getting closer. I looked at him disgusted. Just then I felt someone's arm go around me. I looked over to see Fang.

"Everything okay here, babe?" he asked. I nearly burst into laughter. This was my so called knight in shining armor. Way to be smooth, dear Fang. I held my laughter in and showed total adoration.

"Peachy keen, hon," I replied. Nate started to back off.

"So I'll talk to you later," he told me and walked over to Saddie. Now that I got good look at them, they almost looked alike. Could they be siblings? I shook the thought off and turned back to Fang.

"Thanks honey," I teased. A small smile crept to his lips. "I was about ready to punch the guy in the face." The smile went away.

"Me too," he replied. I didn't laugh, because something in his voice told me he was serious. He pulled back his arm.

"It seems like your battery is shot." Iggy said. I heard Tia groan.

"My brother is going to chew me to pieces," she muttered. I felt bad, but there isn't much I could do. They called to tow truck company, but it would be a couple hours until they could get there. Seeing there were other accidents to take care of due to the rain. So we all walked back to the house. Once there, we were all formally introduced. There was Saddie and her brother Nate, Tia and Ethan. Ella introduced the whole flock as distant relatives. We were all talking in the living room. Saddie caught interest in Dylan, but sad for her that he had no interest in her. Nate talked to Ella and Iggs. Tia, Fang and I were in a weird conversation about weather issues. Somehow it turned from a discussion about hazardous driving in rain, into how we would survive if we were lost at sea. We of course couldn't mention that we would fly. I stayed quiet most of the time.

As I wasn't paying attention, I started to drift off. _Tired Max?_ I heard a voice in my head. At first I thought it was Angel, but when I looked at her she was talking to Gazzy. Then it occurred to me. I groaned. It was the annoying voice. Okay I have a voice in my head that tells me what to do. But I haven't heard from it in a long time. So why now does it show up?

_So you show up. For a while there I thought I was rid of you for good,_ I retorted.

_Now is not the time for your jokes Max,_ it said. I sighed.

"Max? You okay?" Fang asked. I looked at him. There was concern in his eyes. I smiled at him and nodded.

"I'll be right back," I said and walked to Ella's room. If I was going to talk to myself then I was going to do it in private.

_So what's up?_ I said. Hoping it was still there, and I really wasn't talking to myself.

_You're not alone Max._ It said. I looked around the room. It was completely empty.

_Yah I am,_ I said. If the voice could sigh…

_There are others out there Max. Soon you will see._ Then I could feel it vanish. As always the voice left me confused. I shook my head. I headed back to the others, and saw that the room was filled with an intense atmosphere.

"What's going on?" I asked. But then Ella lunged for her. Saddie. I dove into action. Ella sat on top of her, punching in her face. Tia and I pulled her off.

"Ella!" I shouted. She didn't look at me. Ethan helped up Saddie who looked ready to kill. They stared each other down for a while.

"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?" I asked. Nudge gave me a burst of information.

"After you left, Saddie went to sit by Nick," she started. I looked at Fang who looked at me. "They were talking and then Saddie got a little too close to him. Ella told her to back off, but Saddie didn't listen. Saddie just ignored Ella and continued on Nick. Ella told her again, to back off because you and Nick were going out. Then Saddie started to talk back and then Ella attacked her." Nudge went into little detail, but that's all I needed. I looked at Saddie. She flinched a little, but still shot me daggers. I looked back at Ella, who was being calmed down by Iggy. I looked back at Fang. He looked like he was tired of all the drama. I gave out a huge sigh. I'm gone for one minute and the world goes into chaos. I walked to the back door. The rain had stopped. I opened it and ran outside. Into the forest of trees, and without even knowing began to fly. I did not want to deal with this right now. But of course, like always, he followed. I could hear his beautiful black wings beating behind me. I landed on a branch and Fang joined me.

"You mad?" he asked.

"Did you at least try to tell her no?" I asked. He nodded. I sighed. I sat down on the branch. "Care to join me on a breather?" He gave that one sided smile that he gave only me. I don't know how long we stayed there, but I knew we had to go back. But right now, this was what I needed.

Jess' POV (By me)

The rain pounded down on us, but we hardly noticed. We were a little preoccupied, shell-shocked actually. The reason? Well first, Z had just caught on fire _and lived_. Also, Liz was a telepath. They just looked at each other, and I looked between them. No one knew what to say, so I decided to try and break the silence.

"Liz... you're a telepath? Since when? And how did it _not_ come up?" Jeez, I sounded like Max.  
Liz looked at me, and it was Z's turn to look between us.

"I've always been a telepath. I didn't tell you cuz I didn't know how. I couldn't just jump on top of a table and shout, 'Hey I can move things with my mind!' could I?" She had a point.

"So," said Z, "anything else you'd like to tell us?"

When you looked at Liz, you could tell that there was probably a story behind all of this, but she just said, "No."

And that was it. Neither Z nor I wanted to pry and force her to spill secrets that we might not want to know, so we looked at each other and without saying anything, both agreed to let her talk when she was ready. On that note, we walked back to the sidewalk and just kept walking, me in the middle, slightly ahead of them, because I was sort of leading us, whether I liked it or not. I wasn't much into leading people. Mostly because I didn't like people behind me, following me. I'd rather be behind them, or at least next to them. But that wasn't totally an option here, so I ignored it and focused on the fact that I was going home. Home, such a weird thing for me to have. Good weird.

I love the rain, but we were soaked, so I decided we were done for today. We found another little park with a bunch of trees, so we picked some and jumped up into them. Gotta love sleeping in a tree. As I lay there and thought about the past few weeks, I realized how much flying I'd been doing lately, and felt a tired little burst of pride at that. I guess I was becoming quite the flyer, able to stay up longer, and even kick butt while I do it. Still, I was so tired, not even my insomnia kept me up.

We arrived in the late afternoon, just before it started to snow, and way down in the yard, there was Joseph walking towards the door of the house, blissfully unaware. Then I got an idea. An evil idea. I tucked my wings tight against my body and dive bombed towards him, resisting the urge to yell, "Kamikaze!" on the way down. Instead I went with, "Tackle hug!"

Yeah I'm a huge dork.

After I'd tackled him Joseph had a look on his face like, get your freaking 110-pound self off of me. In other words, he was pretending that he wasn't happy to see me but failing at it miserably. I got off and helped him up just as Z and Liz landed, laughing. Mom walked out the door to see what all the noise was, and I ran up and hugged her. More gently, of course.

"Mom!" Oh my gosh I think I just squealed. What are these people doing to me?

After a whole round of hugs with everybody, mom asked, "Were you guys planning on anything specifically? Because if not, and if you're not too tired, I had something in mind."

"What is it?" Liz asked, she looked, and sounded, like such a little kid. Then, I guess, she was one. It was so hard to forget sometimes.

"Well let's hop in the car and I'll show you." 

It wasn't a long drive, in like five minutes we were there, but it felt like we'd teleported to like Narnia or something. We took this long, empty country road that went through some trees far enough apart that it almost didn't count as a forest. Everything here was covered in snow. In a thicker part of the trees, there was a little clearing, right next to the road, with like a foot of snow. We jumped out of the car, and Liz's face was light up like Christmas.

"I was looking for a place with less people," mom explained, "or even none if we were lucky, so that you could stretch your wings and everything, and I found this."

"It's beautiful," I murmured.

"It's perfect," Z said.

Pretty soon, we were building snowmen and having snowball fights and just having a good time messing around in the snow. By the time we went home and went to bed, we were all exhausted. But of course I couldn't sleep. Darn insomnia. So I just started thinking. I could hear Max in my head, accusing them of kidnapping me. They weren't kidnappers, those men were, but my mom, and my brother, they love me. They _love_ me. I know it. Max just didn't understand. But I couldn't be mad about it, even when I tried. I decided not to worry about it, they would understand in time. I eventually fell asleep, and I think I had a smile on my face.

**AW! Family love for the WIN! Oh and sisters kicking butt for each other, gotta love that ;) FAX AND EGGY BABY! Yeah, I'm hyper. Well, on to the next chapter, it's a good 'un :D**


	10. Unwanted Friends

**The following bits are my very favorite parts. I hope you enjoy them like I did :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I do not own the Wilson family. BoOkWoRm owns Z and Liz. I do own Jess and- oh wait, you don't know them **_**quite**_** yet, I'm getting ahead of myself :) Readers, prepare yourselves for new characters!**

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I woke up and found Jess sleeping soundly in her bed. I smiled at her. She's been having a hard time with getting sleep lately. I looked out the window, and saw that it was nearly dawn. I got out of bed, and silently walked out of the room, grabbing my sweater in the process. I didn't want to wake up anybody, and it was cold. The heat should be turning on soon. I walked into the kitchen, and decided to put Iggy's cooking lessons into play. I searched the pantry and found pancake mix. I checked the fridge and found some eggs and bacon. Well, here's breakfast.

I started to cook when I heard small footsteps. I looked to see Liz coming in. She was rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"Morning Liz," I whispered. She waved, and sat down at the table. "How many pancakes do you want?" She lifted up five fingers. Us bird kids eat a lot. "How many eggs?" She held up six fingers. I started on the order. I flipped the pancakes perfectly. If Iggy could see me now. I felt Liz's eyes on me. I smiled as I worked, and tired to entertain her. She only had a small smile, still under sleep's spell.

"You remind me of Nanna," she suddenly said. The name hit me like a ton of bricks. It was so familiar, yet I couldn't remember where I heard it.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"An old lady that took care of me," she said.

"An old lady?" I asked. She nodded. "What happened to your parents?"

"I'm not sure. All I remember is being with Nanna, and someone…someone else," she looked at me expectantly. I continued on the breakfast. "What about you?" she asked. I looked at her. "Where did you come from?" My mouth dropped open in shock. Nobody has ever straight out asked me about my past. I mean they hinted at it, but nobody has ever asked me like that before. I stared at her looking over her face. She seemed so familiar. How do I put it? It's like I've known her. Like she's someone important to me. My mind then went back to my past and my little sister. My baby sister, who was too young to remember what had happened to our family, and I had left behind in the arms of an old lady. And the note.

Suddenly Liz pulled something out of her sweater pocket. "When I was still living with Nanna, I found this note. It's from my sister. A sister I never knew." She gets up and hands it to me. "I think that sister is you." I looked at her with shock.

"How do you know for sure?" I asked.

"In the music box where I found the note there was a picture of my family, and you were in it," she said. I took the note from her, and opened it. It was my handwriting, and my message. I looked up at Liz. She was Princess. My mouth dropped open, if it could even open any wider.

"How? When? What happened?" I asked. All these questions came into my head. She smiled at me.

"So it _is_ you!" she said. I couldn't help but laugh. Then I hugged her. She hesitated a while, and then hugged me back. I guess she isn't into hugging. I pulled away from her. Both of us were smiling.

Later we were all sitting at the breakfast table, and we told Jess the good news. She was as shocked as I was. She couldn't believe it, but she could. Wait until we tell the flock. Actually, I wonder what they're up to.

Jess' POV (By me)

"That's _so_ cheating..."said Z.

"You're just jealous because you didn't think of it first," I quipped.

"Your wings are gonna freeze off," Liz added.

I was making a snow angel. With my wings, instead of my arms. Pretty creative, if you ask me. I stood up, examining my work, shaking the snow off of my wings, smiling. "See?" I said. "That looks so cool!"

"Sure..." Z said, rolling her eyes and walking the other way, turning her back to me. Bad move... I thought to myself, hiding a sly smile.

"Hey Z!" I shouted. She turned, and my snowball went sailing towards her. Too bad for Joseph, she ducked. It hit him right in the face.

"Oh, it's on," said Z, as both she and Joey gathered up snow for throwing.

"Like Donkey Kong!" I replied, doing the same. As we threw snowballs at each other, I couldn't help but think about how perfect everything was right now. Everyone was safe, happy, and warm. Max and the flock were all at Dr. M's house, and we were here with my family, with my dad nowhere in sight. We found out Z and Liz were sisters, which was great news. We were messing around in the snow at our little clearing almost every day. And all while we'd been here, we'd been practicing flying, learning some moves from some owls that lived around here. A lot like the Flock learned from the hawks. These owls had gotten used to us, and followed us when we left the house. Even right now they were sitting in the trees, watching us, probably thinking how weird we were. Oh well, they tolerated it.

As I laughed, looking at the owls and dodging snowballs, I saw something else in the trees that made the owls fly away. It was a crow. No, wait; there was more than one, actually several. I stopped in my tracks, looking at them, and soon so did everyone else. It got really quiet, except for the cawing of the crows as they watched us with beady black eyes. It wasn't the same as the owls watching us, this felt wrong. Almost deadly.

"Hey guys..." I whisper, "Maybe we should call my mom and ask for her to come pick us up..." There was an unspoken agreement throughout the group. Those crows were creepy. Just as Joseph was reaching slowly for his phone in his pocket, we saw them. Three figures flying trough the sky: too big for birds, too small for flyboys, and not quite graceful enough to be a member of the Flock. Who were they? I mean, how many bird kids are there in the world? We soundlessly moved into a defensive formation, Z in front, Joey and I behind her, and Liz behind us, forming a diamond shape. The three bird kids, all boys, landed in front of us. They saw our wings, and for now I was thinking that it was a bad thing, but it was too late to hide them. The three boys approached us almost casually. One was black, one was Asian, and the third was white.

The third guy stepped forward and said, in perfect Norwegian, "Hvem er Oversetteren?"  
He was asking for me, I think. Was I the Translator? I guess I was. But Z was obviously the leader, why didn't they talk to her? I wanted to confront him and demand to know what his deal was, but to do it I'd have to reveal that I was the Translator, apparently. Here went nothing.

"Jeg er. Hvorfor?" As I looked at him, I could somehow sense that he knew English originally, and had learned Norwegian, but not after learning a little bit of French, Spanish, Latin, and Persian. How did I know all this?

"Hør på meg," he answered, "du må stole på oss. Vi har en idé, du trenger bare å følge med." _Listen to me, you have to trust us. We have an idea, you just need to follow along._

"Hvorfor skal vi?" I snarled slightly, then calmed my tone a little. "Og hvorfor snakker du slik? Jeg vet du kan snakke engelsk." _Why should we? And why are you speaking like this? I know you can speak English._

He flinched a little at the accusation. Apparently he didn't know I could tell what languages people spoke. Then again, neither had I.

"Jeg skal forklare når den er ferdig," he said quietly then he looked at me pleadingly, with big orange (yes orange) eyes, "Bare stol på meg." _I'll explain when it's done. Just trust me._ Before I could answer he continued, taking my silence as a yes. "Kan han gå?" He pointed to Joseph. "Bare for et øyeblikk, kan han gjemme seg i trær aller noe." _Can he leave? Just for a minute, he can hide in the trees or something._

That cut it. What were these guys, prejudiced against normal humans? "Hvorfor?" I demanded. "Han kan holde sine egne i en kamp, hvis det er ett." _Why? He can hold his own in a fight, if there is one._

I knew Joseph was a bit of a pacifist, but I also knew he could kick major butt when needed. After all, dad had taught him.

"Jeg lover at han kan hjelpe når- hvis det er en kamp. Han trenger bare å være skjult for nå."  
_I promise he can help when- if there is a fight. He just needs to be hidden for now._

I opened my mouth to argue against this, but knew at this point it would be helpless. "Joseph," I said reluctantly, "You need to hide in the trees. Unless a fight breaks out, or I call for you, stay there." He didn't seem very happy about it, but went anyway.

"Jess what's going on?" Z asked.

"I don't know," I answered. "They-"

"Shhh," the black guy cut us off. "They're here."

In an instant, he had grabbed Liz, the Asain guy had grabbed Z, and the Norway idiot had grabbed me. We all struggled, using our dirtiest moves, but then Norway hissed in my ear, "Hold still, do you want this to work?"

Before I could say anything (probably rude) back, the clearing filled with white coats and Erasers, and we froze.

"Good, you found them," said one white coat. "Now we can really begin. You boys will be glad you did this."

"I don't really think they'll come willingly," said the Asian dude holding Z, which he was having trouble doing because, well, she's Z.

"Alright," said another white coat, "we have some sedative in the van, we can go get it."  
The white coats laughed, and then all of them left. 

They weren't even gone a second when an Eraser advanced towards me and Norway. We were, after all, the closest ones to them. He was fully human, but he had this awful wolfish gleam in his eyes, and his teeth seemed extra sharp and pointy.

"Nice catch, kid," he said to Norway, who kept his grip on me. "She's almost kinda cute, for a bird." Somehow all the other Erasers found this funny, and they each barked a laugh. I growled, continuing to struggle. I swear, if I get out of this, I'm going to kill this Eraser, right after I kill Norway. "Hey, hey, hey," said the Eraser, pulling out a switch blade, which was weird because he had freaking CLAWS. "You don't want to do that do you? Someone could get hurt."

"Yeah, you!" shouted Z behind me.

"You wouldn't want to ruin your pretty face," he said, ignoring Z and bringing the blade close to my face. "Not that there's much to ruin. You're all one color: brown. Your hair, your wings... but not your eyes." He turned the blade horizontal, perpendicular to my eyes so that the sharp part was facing me. I bit back a scream, and the Erasers laughed again. While they were laughing, Norway whispered in my ear.

"Get ready. On the count of three. One...two...THREE!" at three he let go, jumping back, and I jumped back with him, the knife biting the bridge of my nose. The Erasers morphed as Z and Liz were also released, and Joseph ran out of the woods. Everything blurred into a fight. Half of the Erasers took to the sky fighting against Z, Liz, and the two guys that had been holding them. The other half of the Erasers stayed on the ground against me, Joey, and ugh, Norway. I'd have to kick his butt later. I found the Eraser with the switchblade and let him have it. This was personal.

"Jess!" Z shouted from above me as I finished him off. I looked up. "Did Iggy ever teach you to make that bomb out of snow?"

"Yeah, throw me the stuff!" I knew she had been carrying around some things for this in case of an emergency, and this was that emergency. She tossed down the supplies I needed, and I began to work. In less than a minute, it was done, smaller than a basketball, easy to carry around. I heard a scream, and looked up again.

"Liz!" Z screamed. She was being held back by an Eraser and a Flyboy, and Liz was being attacked by another Eraser, screaming bloody murder. It was trying to pull her wing off! Not while I'm around! I jumped into the air with all my might, spreading my wings. I tackled the Eraser, catching Liz before she could fall. I could see her shoulder was bleeding, and her eyes were closed, but she was breathing. I tossed the bomb over to Z, who caught it and lit it using her newly found fire powers. She threw it into a whole group of them, taking them all out. A Flyboy came at me, trying to pull Liz out of my arms. He grabbed my wrist, but I pulled it back. His claws scratched three perfect rings around my wrist, and I hissed in pain through my teeth, kicking him back. I dived for another clearing, deeper in the woods. I tumbled to a landing, rolling a few times, turning the snow red from my wrist and Liz's shoulder. Z landed next to me as I gathered Liz up in my arms, standing over us protectively while I knelt in the snow. For just a second, it was quiet, almost peaceful. Then the crows, those stupid crows, attacked us. Something told me they'd been hatched at the School. I covered Liz and me with my wings as best I could, and Z covered all three of us, her wings spread on top of mine. The crows cawed and pecked at us, pulling out a few feathers in the process. We held on, hearing it all, when a new sound came into play. It was owls. _Our_ owls. We heard the two groups of birds fighting, amazed at such a thing. Soon, all noise stopped, except to sound of crowing becoming increasingly distant. We carefully pulled our sore wings back and looked in the trees at all the owls. I had no idea there were this many. I stood up and handed Liz over to her sister, just as Joey and three unwanted boys ran into the clearing, out of breath.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" I seethed. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" I pointed over my shoulder at Z taking care of Liz.

"Look just let us explain-" started the Asian guy.

"No," I said. "You know what? Just leave! And NEVER come back!" I was now face to face with Norway.

"What if we don't want to?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. I took a deep breath, glaring at him. I didn't say anything, I just swung at him. Before my fist hit his face, he caught it, and held on tight, looking at my wrist. I tried to pull away.

"What-Let me go!"

"No. would just hold still and let me help you?" He then licked his other thumb and rubbed it on my wrist. He kept doing that, and at first I just thought he was just cleaning off the blood, but by the time he stopped, my wrist was totally healed.

Norway had just pulled a Dylan.

**Typing in Norwegian is HARD. No more of THAT anytime soon. No, I don't actually know it; I used the translator app on my iPod. So it's not 100% reliable. Yeah, I'm not so great at writing action scenes. Hope it was good enough for you. The three boys' descriptions, sorta: Asian guy has ravens wings, the black guy has seagull wings, and Norway has tan-ish wings, like wet sand. And, I have to leave, but I'll give you more tomorrow. See ya!**


	11. Does Your Heart Hurt?

**Whew, I'm back. Don't feel like writing much of an author's note, cuz I got nothing to say. For once. **

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own any of this. Except the OCs. Well half are BoOkWoRm's. Whatever. Just read.**

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I looked at the white guy in shock. Did he just do what I thought he just did? He just healed? Am I going crazy? I thought only Dylan could do that. Guess I was wrong.

Jess pulled back her hand and looked at the white guy with the same expression.

"Z," I heard Liz quietly breathe. I turned around to see that she had stopped bleeding, but was in major pain. I rushed over to her just as the black guy did. Meanly, I hissed at him to get back. He only went back two inches. I scooped Liz in my arms, and I heard Jess tear off a piece of cloth from the supplies.

"Let us help," the Asian kid said.

"You've helped enough," I hissed. He nodded at the white guy who took the cloth right out of Jess's hands. He spit on the cloth and motioned towards Liz. He reached down and I snapped at him, almost biting him. He pulled back a little scared but more curious.

"Don't touch her," I said. He sighed and looked up at the Asian kid.

"Would you rather she died?" the Asian kid asked. I looked down at Liz, who was shaking terribly. No, I couldn't risk losing anyone.

"You can save her?" I asked. The white guy nodded. So apparently he would only talk to Jess. Fine, whatever.

He took the cloth to where her shoulder was bleeding. She gasped and gripped onto my sweater. She was breathing heavily, and she didn't stop shaking. The white guy drew more spit and rubbed it on her. Gross, but it was working. Soon Liz had stopped shaking, and her grip went loose. She was breathing evenly now and opened her eyes to give a smile of thanks.

"Are you feeling better?" the black guy asked. She looked up at him, and a sudden sparkle came into her eyes.

"I'm fine," she said. She motioned to stand up, and I helped her. But then her legs gave out. Before I could catch her, the black guy literally swept her off her feet. She giggled. Oh. My. Heck! She actually giggled! She had not once giggled, never. But suddenly this guy shows up, and she giggles.

"Z," I hear Jess call me. I turn to her seeing Joseph next to her. "Joey says that it's not safe to stay here." Knowing Joseph I didn't need to question.

"Let's go," I said. She nodded and I headed over to take Liz, who was smiling up at the black guy while he was laughing at something she had just said.

"Liz, we got-" I started to say, when someone grabbed my arm. I turned around to see the Asian guy.

"We need to talk to you," he said. Roughly I took my arm back, giving him one of my mean, cold, hard stares, just like Max had done.

"I have had about enough of you," I said.

"Z, it wouldn't hurt to hear them out," Liz said.

"You keep out of this," I said. She eyed me harshly. I can't believe she eyed me. ME!

"Its four against three," Asian said. I turned around ready to sock him in the face. But my gut was telling me to listen to them. If I learned anything from Max, it's to follow your instincts.

"Alright. But don't try anything funny," I said.

We walked a little ways, even though I preferred to fly, because Liz was still a little dizzy, and 'Joey' couldn't fly. I let big brown eyes carry Liz, seeing as they were having so much fun whispering and laughing together. We got to a ski lodge that we really hadn't seen before. But there were humans, actual humans, there so I figured it was safe. We walked in pulling in our wings of course, and sat down in a small lobby. The few people there were a little creeped out by us, and left. I didn't really care. More privacy for us. I sat next to the fireplace, and I could feel the flames energizing me. Cool, I'm like, charging. Ha-ha! Jess had sat between me and Joseph, across from Asian and white guy. Liz and black guy sat on the side to us, still whispering to each other. Those two just plain out confused me. How could Liz be so friendly to these guys? I mean they did lead white coats and Erasers to us. But I had to ignore that and concentrate on finding out who these guys were.

"Now _explain_," I ordered. The Asian guy spoke for them. I'm taking it he's the leader.

"To start, my name is Sheen. This is Alex," he points to the white guy, "and he's DeSean." He motioned to the guy with Liz. He looks at me expectantly, like he was waiting for our intros, but I had a feeling he already knew us. I sighed.

"I'm Z, this is Jess, Joseph, and Liz," I said, pointing each one of us out. He nodded.

"We would like to apologize for the battle," he said. I nodded, not wanting to say anything (probably rude). "We were actually trained to come and find you, so we could take you back to the School. But we didn't want to have you guys go through what we have. That's why we had Alex speak Norwegian, because we knew that Jess could understand."

"Wait how do you guys know?" I asked. He was hesitant at the question. Alex elbowed him.

"We were trained to know you, that's how we would find you," he said. Alex elbowed him again. I looked at them curiously. "And we were made for each other." I narrowed my eyes at them.

"What kind of sick joke are you guys trying to pull?" I asked, pissed.

"It's not a joke," he said, his voice raising a little.

"What? You expect me to believe that?" I asked.

"I'm not that gullible!" I shouted. He looked pissed as well.

"We were programmed that way! Both of us! Each and every one of us. You and me, Alex and Jess, and DeSean and Liz. Why do you think they clicked so quickly? We were programmed to be each other's perfect other half, soul mate, whatever. The point is I'm right." I stood up, really mad.

"Prove it. Prove to me that you're my other half." He stood up too, taking up my challenge. He stared down at me, seeing as he was a head taller. I could feel everyone's eyes on us.

"I know that your mother and brother were murdered. They were blown up."

"Anyone could look that up at the School."

"I know that you and Liz are sisters."

"Anyone could have guessed that."

"I know that deep inside you feel like you don't belong. That you feel like you're missing something. There is a black hole in your heart, where that something is missing. That something missing is me. I know, because I feel exactly the same way," he said. I stared hard and cold at him. It pissed me off so bad, because he was right. I had never told anyone what I was really feeling. But this guy, this guy knew. And it pissed me off even more that I could feel my heart quicken just by looking at him. My heart and body yearned for him. I hated feeling so vulnerable. Before I could stop myself, I socked him in the face. He went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Sheen!" Alex went over to Sheen, surprised that I had punched him. Sheen looked up at me confused and shocked.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Just for the hell of it," I said. He looked up at me like I was totally crazy. Maybe I was. "Come on guys." Jess and Joseph got up to follow me, but Liz was hesitating. "Liz, get your butt up, or I swear I'll pry you out and force you to come." I saw fear flash across her face. She knew I wasn't kidding, and she recognized my pissed attitude. She got up and followed.

"Bye, DeSean," she said as we left.

We got in the clear of the ski lodge, and I expanded my wings. Jess looked at my questioningly, but I knew what she was thinking.

"I want to get out of here as fast as possible. I'll carry Joseph," I said, and before Joseph could argue or anything, I picked him up bridal style and jumped into the air, flapping my wings. Joseph looked away covering an obvious blush. Jess and Liz followed me as I flew in the direction of Jess's mom's house.

"Z, why did you really punch him?" Liz asked. I picked up speed.

"Because he deserved it."

"For what?" she asked.

"Just fly, Liz. I'm not in the mood."

We got to the house in a matter of minutes. Jess's mom was confused why we had come home without calling her to pick us up. I told her that we didn't want to bother her, because we knew that she was getting ready for Christmas. She still persisted that next time we call no matter what she was doing. We all went to the living room. The T.V. was going even though nobody was watching it. Some cheesy Christmas song was playing and I found myself going over what Sheen had said. How could he know what I was feeling? Nobody could tell what he did. Not even Angel. My fist twitched, and I realized I had both hands balled up. I relaxed them immediately, and glanced back towards the kitchen. I could go for some grub. I got up and headed towards the kitchen.

I opened the fridge and grabbed stuff to make a sandwich. Then I heard someone come up behind me. I spun around on the attack, but I found Joseph. I stopped when I realized it was him. I let out a breath in relief. I closed the fridge door with my foot.

"Want a sandwich?" I asked. He merely nodded. So I started on the sandwiches and felt his eyes on me while I did. I was used to it because Gazzy used to watch me make his food. I wonder how the flock was doing. I finished sandwich number one and handed it to Joseph. As I looked up for a quick glance at his face, I saw him looking at me like he was trying to tell me something.

"Did I get your order wrong?" I joked. He shook his head. He then patted his chest. I shook my head not understanding. He pointed at his chest and made a shape of a heart with his hands. "Your heart?" I guessed. He then pointed at me. "My heart?" He nodded. "What about it?" He made a teary-eyed face. It almost made me laugh. "Sad?" He nodded. I put it together. "Is my heart sad?" He nodded. I shook my head. "Why would it be?" He just stared at me like I knew what he was talking about. "Are you talking about Sheen?" He nodded and took his sandwich. "Why would I be sad about Sheen?" He shrugged and took a bite out of the sandwich. I went back to making the other sandwiches.

"I don't really care. They aren't to be trusted. No matter what they say," I said. Even if he did get that last one right, I added in the back of my mind. I could hear muffled laughter. I looked up to see that it was Joseph. "What's so funny?" He pointed down towards the sandwiches. I had made a few more than I had planned. I sighed. Well, I guess I'm treating everyone to lunch.

**Ok, not very long and not very eventful. But I promise the next chapter is just the opposite. Ask BoOkWoRm, she can tell you how insane it is ;) Man, I'm just not talkative AT ALL today. Yeah, I can hear you all cheering. So anyway, please review, it motivates me.**


	12. Snap!

**B gy thvfl;gjrrk l jlrfj vto;jgfa lajf;- Huh? Oh sorry that was me falling asleep at the keyboard. These past two weeks have dragged :P Sorry for abandoning you again, but there's good reasons! ****I'm trying for a 4.0 (hasn't happened since I can remember) so I can get a laptop so that I can actually write during the day. And, for you guys, edit/post. So, cheer me on! Also, you guys are bad at guessing who Joseph is in comic-book form. I guess you don't care enough to find out, so you never will. (Hint: If you really do care to find out, there's a BIG clue in my profile. No, I don't just write Maximum Ride.) Well, buckle up and get ready for a ride, this chappie's a FOURTEEN-PAGE roller coaster. With another OC, might I add. You'll love them, I swear. **

**Disclaimer: don't own blah blah blah, but my OC's are mine and same goes for BoOkWoRm, whatever, I'll shut up. Oh right, if you wondered, I don't own Jess and Joey's dad, either.**

Jess' POV (By Me, with major input by BoOkWoRm. Team effort!)

I sat on the couch with Liz, hearing Z talk to Joey in the next room. I knew Liz was sad about leaving DeSean, but I also knew that Z hated all three of them. I was stuck in the middle. Half of me never wanted to hate anyone besides an Eraser or a whitecoat. Not even either of my dads, really. The other half of me, the one that hated whitecoats, was mad that some stupid scientists had tried to pre-program me to be in love with a specific someone else, before either of us were even born. You can't program love. Can you?

Interrupting my thoughts, Z and Joseph walked in with a bunch of sandwiches for all of us, and we started to eat them. I pushed down all of my negative feelings, at least for right now. I tried not to think of the pair of orange eyes branded into my memory. My heart and soul seemed to long for him, and my body ached with desire. Not necessarily in a sexual way, but in a way that I wanted to be physically (and emotionally) close to him. Almost like how I'd felt when I found my family, and always wanted to be with them. It was like that, only more intimate, I think.

We heard the garage door opening, but ignored it, knowing it was only mom coming home from the store. The door leading into the garage opened, and there were footsteps on the hardwood floors of the kitchen. We froze. Those weren't mom's footsteps.

We all stood up right as he walked in. I'd never met him before, but I knew exactly who it was.

_Dad..._ Joey tried to sign, but his hands were shaking slightly, and he didn't seem to know what to say. We were walking on thin ice.  
"Joseph," Dad acknowledged, almost casually. "Will you introduce me to your friends before they have to leave?"

_They're not leaving._

"Oh really? I've known the whole time they were here, and I know who they are, and what they were made to do."

_Dad, no-_

"I called. Someone will be by to pick them up soon."

My heart stopped, and my legs threatened to give out underneath me. No...

_You can't do __this; do you realize what they'll do to them?_

"Do you realize how much money, research, time, and hard work went into making them?"

_They're still human! __She's my sister, YOUR daughter!_

Dad was blocking the only exit. There was a window, but was it even big enough? Could we break it?

"That won't stop _them_."

We could all hear vans, not too far away, and it really hit me. We were going to the School, not ever coming back. We would be forced to destroy the world, or be killed.

"No!" Z shouted, immediately jumping at my dad. Everything blurred into action, violence. While Z attacked him, Joey grabbed me and Liz, pushing us past dad, towards the door. Z followed as soon as she was able, and dad was following behind, only, he wasn't even running, just walking. I wondered why, but didn't really care.

We swung the door open, letting it hit the wall full force. When we got outside, we stopped dead in our tracks. Whitecoats, all over, surrounding the place. And for backup, fully morphed Erasers, laughing doggishly at us. (A/N: Wow, all the bird kid activity these past few weeks and none of the neighbors ever noticed...) Dad came out of the house, still walking, and I now knew why. He knew they were here by now, he knew we couldn't get away. He seemed to know a lot of things.

Of course we opened our wings and at least tried to fly, and of course Joseph tried to help us fight them off so we could get away. But Dad grabbed him by the arms and held him back, calmly watching. I only got a few feet into the air, when an Eraser grabbed one of my ankles and swung me down onto the ground, knocking all the air out of me. I could hear that Z and Liz soon followed. Gasping for breath that wouldn't come, we were easily handled.

They roughly jerked us to our feet, and for just a second, I caught Joseph's eye across the yard. I gave him a look that said, 'I'm so sorry…' though that could never cover it all. He returned the look, with an attempt at a broken smile, as if telling me it would be okay. Just like brothers were supposed to do. I nodded a little, tears stinging my eyes, silently promising him I would be okay. We both knew they were hollow promises, but it didn't matter now.

We fought the whole way to the back of the vans. At the first one they tried to throw in Z, but ended up having to put an Eraser in with her, to keep her there. We got to the second van, where they threw me in, slamming the door shut and locking it. I looked around hopelessly in the dim lighting, and saw a cage attached to the back wall. At first it seemed empty, because the figure in it was so small, made even smaller by the fact that they were curled into a ball.

I quickly crawled over and jammed my hand and arm through the bars, shaking their shoulder and trying to get them up. It was just a little kid, obviously from the School. Then my fingers brushed against something soft... Feathers? I looked and sure enough, there was a pair of wings sprouting from their small back. Now I really needed to get them out. But how?

I went to a side window, run through with chicken wire, and looked out, slightly panicked. Then, against all hope, three figures literally fell out of the sky, to our rescue. The boys. As they landed, Z suddenly was thrown out her side window, and hit the icy ground, hissing in pain. I cried out in fear, which caused a pair of burning orange eyes to connect with my green ones.

Alex ran to the back of the van I was in, while Sheen helped Z up, and DeSean ran for Liz.  
No sooner had I turned back to the cage to try and bust it open, when the van started, lurching forward and speeding away. I glanced out the back windows to see that the other two vans were staying behind, but then focused on the lock of the cage. If I ever got out, I couldn't leave anyone behind.

Just as suddenly as it had started, the van squealed to a stop. It sounded like the tires had given out. Liz probably had something to do with that. The doors burst open, and Alex scrambled in.

"Jess! Come on!"

"I can't get this open!" I shouted back, still fumbling with the lock.

"Jess, we don't have time to save everyone-"

"Can-it, Norway! I'm not leaving her!" I didn't know for sure, 100% that it was a girl; it just came out, feeling right. Alex gave an exasperated sigh, and then knelt down to help me.

"You're so effing stubborn…Freckles," he muttered. I'd punch him for it later.

There was a snap and the metal door swung open with a little squeak. I reached in and grabbed the kid, who weighed nothing in my arms. Alex and I jumped out the van, reaching inhuman heights and not even hitting the ground, we pulled out our wings so fast.

We circled above, watching them fight. I looked worriedly at the kid in my arms, who was, in fact, a girl. She was wearing one of the typical School hospital-style gowns, and seemed to be of a little bit of an Asian persuasion (A/N: LOL BEST RHYME EVER! ROTFLOL!) and had black hair cut super short and spiky, with side-sweeped bangs that reached her chin, and pale white skin. I couldn't see her wings while holding her like this, so I had no idea what color they were. Her eyes fluttered open for just a second, but then she was gone again.

Alex pointed down to my dad, who was still holding Joseph back. "Who's that?"

"My dad," I answered bitterly.

Alex just looked at me with disbelief.

"Come on," I say, ignoring his look. "We need to help Joey."

I swooped down, gripping the tiny girl in my arms. I had nowhere to put her, so I could only hope Norway was capable of getting dad to let go of Joey on his own. Oh man. Joseph's screwed.

Luckily, right before we landed, Z and Sheen got there. Then, before our very eyes, we saw Sheen change. Like literally change. He morphed, transformed, whatever. He had shifted into someone else. Someone we didn't know, but I sensed a hint Eraser in him. Then, Sheen, or whoever it was, morphed into a wolf. As in an Eraser-type wolf. Growling, he went for my dad's throat. Instinctively, dad let go of Joey to try and fight the creature off. In a second, Joseph was at my side, making sure I was okay.

"What - What just happened?" Z asked, still staring at the Eraser in shock.

"Sheen transformed into an Eraser and used that Eraser's power to turn into a wolf," DeSean said, running up to us, holding onto Liz.

"What?" I asked. They shook their heads.

"We'll explain later," Alex said.

Joey grabbed my arm, as if to say, Hello, back to reality! I turned and looked at him to see what he was trying to sign.

"He says we need to go," I translated. On the inside, my heart was breaking.

"Alright let's move," said Z, taking charge. Z, Liz, DeSean and Alex unfolded their wings and jumped into the air. I turned to my twin, unwilling to leave again, afraid to never come back.

"Tell mom I'm so sorry," I say. He just nods and gives a little reassuring smile, then pulls me into a tight hug. I wanted to hug him back, and would have, if not for the little girl in my arms.

"Sheen! Jess! Get your skinny butts up here before I come down and kick them!" Z shouted down from a few yards west. Sheen broke off from the fight, turning back into his normal Asian kid form and taking off.

Joseph let go and gave me an urgent look, telling me to get out of there. I obediently spread my wings and jumped into the air.

We flew, and the whitecoats and Erasers jumped into the vans (except the one that Liz busted the tires on) and followed us. Looking back, I saw my mom pull up and get out of the car in a panicked state. The remaining pieces of my heart shattered. I was leaving them again. And, now that dad knew, I may not be able to ever go back. Well, apparently he'd known the whole time, but still.

How many times would I hurt them like this? Leaving without warning, bringing my messed up, bird kid life into theirs? Would there even be another time to? Or was that the last we'd seen of each other? Why does everything I have fall apart? The only thing I still had was Z, and the flock. I didn't know yet if I could count the boys. But if I didn't see my family again, Z would still have Liz. I had no one else. I was now out of the loop, out of any family circle.

A small, soft moan came from below me, and I looked down to see the girl still in my arms. Where did she fit into all this? I shifted her in my arms, making sure I wouldn't drop her.

"Need any help?" Alex appeared next to me, just close enough that the tips of his tan-colored wings barely brushed against mine on every down stroke. My heart pounded and each brush gave me unwanted goose bumps that had nothing to do with the cold.

"I've got her," I said, trying to keep my voice even.

"Okay. Just checking," he replied, staying by me, nonetheless. 

We found a nearby cave that we could sleep in for the night, and gathered what wood we could. Z started the fire, with nothing else except her powers. The boys looked at her, amazed, and she responded with a smug smile. It also felt like she was warming up the room with her power. She sat down next to me, while I sitting next to Alex, with the girl in my lap, still out like a light. Liz and DeSean sat next to each other of course, but Sheen kept his distance and sat across from Z on the other side of DeSean. They all cast glances at the girl I held, but didn't ask. I guess the unspoken rule of the flock, never ask questions, and went for the boys, too.

It was quiet for a while until Sheen broke the silence with a question.

"So why was that guy trying to turn you guys in?" We all looked at him. Actually, I glanced up, and then quickly looked back down. This wasn't something I was ready to talk to them about. What happened to the unspoken rule?

"We're not clear on the details," Z said, probably knowing how I felt, and in short, saving my butt. He just nodded, totally buying into it. Z added, "But anyways, how did you guys find us? I made sure you didn't follow us." They all gave out a little chuckle.

"DeSean's a tracker. He found you, well found Liz," Sheen said.

"So all of you have a special power?" I asked, just to clarify.

"Yah, I'm a mimicker, DeSean's a tracker," he said, nodding.

"And I'm a healer," Alex said.

"Wait, wait!" Z said. "You're a mimi-wha?" Sheen laughed.

"A mimicker. I can copy anyone's powers, just by turning into them."

"Anyone's power?" Z asked, unbelieving. He then morphed again, this time I was looking another Z! (Could the world survive with something like that?) Then Sheen, as Z, grabbed the fire, letting it sit in his hand.

"As long as I've seen what they could do," he explained, using Z's voice.

"That is awesome," Liz, Z and I said in unison, making the guys laugh. Sheen then put back the fire and turned back to himself.

"Is that your true form?" Z asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Like is that what you really look like?" He nodded. I looked back at the girl on my lap, wishing I knew her name. I was getting worried, afraid even. What if she never woke up? I noticed for the first time, a plastic hospital bracelet on her boney wrist, barely staying on. I picked up her arm, taking a closer look. There were a bunch of a numbers, rather than a name. Stamped in red ink on top of that were three words: TO BE TERMINATED.

My heart stopped, and my spine was replaced with ice. Was that what was wrong? Had they already shot her full of something that would kill her, and then left her in the back of a van to die? Who _were_ these people?

Loud whispering dragged me out of my panicked thoughts. I looked up to see that DeSean and Sheen seemed to be arguing.

"What's going on?" Liz asked. Sheen sighed.

"We have something very important to tell you," he admitted. We girls looked at him with confusion.

"What?" Z asked. Sheen looked at Alex, who nodded.

"There's a reason we were sent to come and get you. That reason is mainly about the six of us. I was in training one day, and I overheard one of the whitecoats' conversations. They were talking about us, me, Alex and DeSean. About how they were going to send us out in the world to...to..." his face went dark all of a sudden.

"To take over the world basically," Alex said bluntly. We looked at the boys in shock.

"But we didn't like it," Sheen said. "We wanted nothing to do with it. But then I heard them mention three girls and how they were going to help us. Problem was, these girls were missing. They were going to send us to find the girls, umm, you girls. They put us through more training on how to find you, and how to fight you if it was needed. They told us about who you were when they still had record of you. They also told us that we were programmed to be perfect mates," he explained.

The whole story floated in the air, hanging like a dead man from the ceiling.

"What about Max and the flock?" Z asked. They looked at her, confused.

"Who?" DeSean asked. Seeing where Z was going with it, I put my thoughts together.  
Max had told us that they were made to save the world, making it sound like hero work. So if we were made to destroy it... The shattered remains of my heart sank. I looked at Z in fear, seeing that she had already come to the conclusion.

"That makes us enemies," Z said. Liz gasped as she realized it too.

"No, we can't!" I said, or rather, shouted in denial.

"We aren't like that!" Liz added. Z held up her hands to shut us up.

"I know, and we aren't going to let it get to us. We were good before and we still will. This news does not change who we are," she told us.

"I knew it," Sheen said, smiling. Z looked at him. "I knew you could help us. You guys could help us turn good. Teach us to be good."

Z laughed softly.

"You guys are already good. You helped us escape from that guy. Someone evil wouldn't have done that," she said. His eyes grew as he realized this, and Z laughed again, a little louder.

A moment later, probably after thinking about the problem with the flock, she sighed. That made me realize how bad of a situation this was. Then, as I looked at her, Z seemed to totally zone out.

"Z are you okay?" Liz asked. She looked up, shaking her head as if to clear it.

"Yah, I was just hearing Angel in my head," she said. Liz looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I was just thinking about her, and then I could hear her voice in my head." Liz's face went still.

"What?" Z asked. Liz ignored her, simply shutting her eyes really tight, like she just ate something really sour.

"Liz?" Z asked with concern. Liz held up a finger. We waited for a while, looking at her with confusion.

"I got her!" Liz suddenly said, breaking the silence and making us all jump.

"Got who?" DeSean asked.

"Angel!" she said. Z and I looked at her, shocked, probably guessing the same thing. Liz stayed quiet for a while, and then opened her eyes to look back to Z. "Where are we?"

"In a cave about a mile west from the house," Z answered. "Why?"

Liz just shut her eyes again and stayed quiet, nodding occasionally. The whole time no one said anything, either confused or waiting for another clue as to what was going on. With a final nod Liz opened her eyes. She looked exhausted.

"What just happened?" Sheen asked.

"They're coming," Liz said.

"Now?" Z asked. Liz nodded. "How long?"

"About a day or two," she said with a shrug. Z nodded. Everyone else was confused.

"Wait? Who's coming? A day or two for what?" Sheen asked, frustrated.

"I just talked to Angel," Liz asked. Now that was the part none of us understood.

"How, though?" asked Z.

"Well since she has mind reading powers and I have telepathic ones, I figured our brains were sort of on the same wave length. I've been going over it for a while. When you said you could hear Angel I thought now would be the perfect time to see if I could get to her long distance."

It did make sense, now that I thought about it. They did have special brain powers so it's possible that they could hear each other better than anyone else.

"Wait. Who's Angel?" DeSean asked.

"I'm guessing we'll find out soon." Alex said.

I brushed her long black bangs out of her face again. She still hadn't woken up. Although, I now knew what color her wings were. They were a beautiful turquoise/blue-green sort of color. I also noticed that they were a slightly different shape than ours. The joint (like an elbow for wings) was closer to her back than ours, and they were more narrow, and longer. At the end, they made a sort of rounded point.

On top of having issues with sleep, my emotional state would never allow me to sleep any time soon, even if I could. I sighed, looking at all the sleeping figures around me. Insomnia was a lonely thing to have. I got up and walked quietly to the entrance of the cave, sitting on the ledge. Watching the night sky, I saw a large white bird in the distance, and realized it was an owl. As it came nearer, my hopes rose. Could it be one of our owls? It came close and landed on the ledge, looking at me. It had to be one of our owls.

After staring at me for almost a whole minute, it whistled a familiar five-note tune. I smiled.  
A few weeks ago, when Liz, Z and I first came to the house for the winter, and the owls first started to fly with us, we'd made up a sort of code with Joey, a little tune to whistle for when one of us had gone into the woods too far, and the others didn't know where we were.

Normally, it would be easier to just shout, 'I'm over here!' but Joey couldn't do that. What he could do, however, was whistle. So we kept whistling back and forth, and soon, so were the owls. So the birds had become our messengers.

We would whistle to them, and they would fly to the other three, repeating the tune. If needed, those receiving the message would repeat the tune to the bird, and it would fly back to the original person sending the message, and whistle for them. It meant, 'I'm safe.'  
So I repeated the tune. The bird bobbed its head almost like a nod, and took off again. Joey and mom were safe, and so were we. I was glad he sent the owl; it was one less thing for me to worry about. I know what you're thinking: owls can't repeat tunes. But somehow these ones could. Maybe they'd been made at the School, and released in the wild. Maybe these owls were even the children of the originals, or the grandchildren or something. It seemed that anything was possible at this point.

There was a soft rustling behind me, the sounds of someone waking up. Alex walked over and sat next to me.

"Hey," was all he said.

"Hey." I got that ache in my body again, and I wanted to scoot closer. I didn't let myself. There was a long silence.

"What do you want from me?" I demand, not meaning for it to come out so hostile.

"Nothing," he said, completely unfazed.

"Then why are you here?"

"Can I explain it to you?" the way he said it, really nicely, was making it even harder to be mad and hate him. I sighed.

"Yeah. Go ahead and tell me."

He gave a crooked grin, and my heart skipped a beat. Stupid, traitor, vital organ.

"Well, it started a while ago, when we first heard that we were supposed to destroy the world, and there was some girl out there that was supposed to be my 'perfect mate'-"

"Didn't I just hear this story?" I interrupted.

"No-Well yes but- this is different, okay?"

"Whatever. Just keep going."

"Gladly. Now, like I was saying, when I first heard it, I was thinking the exact same things you probably have been. Like, it can't be possible, no one can control love, because it's an emotion. But then I thought, 'What if they can? What if they put together all the right chemicals and instincts, and actually did it? Could it work?' I still don't know. But I wanted to see if it would. So I volunteered to learn a language, because I knew you'd understand. It wasn't just part of the plan, it was me, finding out who you were, and testing this 'perfect match thing', a little.

"Then I actually met you, and well, you know what happened. But, there was still that part of me that...wanted it to work. I'd gotten my hopes up. I still have my hopes up."

"Hopes up for what...exactly?" I said quietly, leaning towards him. I knew exactly what he had been hoping for, because right now, it was what I was hoping for. I looked at his profile against the night sky, and began to give in to the emotions.

"For..." he trailed off, looking back at me. We looked at each other for a moment, afraid to feel. He leaned into me, our lips almost meeting. Then he hesitated, unsure as to whether or not it was okay. I solved his problem for him by closing the space between us and pressing my mouth onto his.

Soul mates, love at first sight, pure chance, fate, destiny, the silent desperation of two strangers or maybe even the mere suggestion, it didn't matter, it felt like love, a new kind for me. Not the kind for family, or friends, the kind Max and Fang have, I think.

His hands found their way to the sides of my face, holding me in place, and I realized what we were doing fully for the first time. Oh my gosh. We were really kissing. This was real, and I liked it. Feeling the need for air, he pulled away.

"...For that," he said quietly, almost shyly.

"I think…I love you," I responded in Norwegian, so it was just for us.

"I love you too," he said, also in Norwegian, kissing me again. My heart exploded in my chest. This was so new, and foreign. I pulled away, feeling the need to talk to him.

"Alex," I said, out of breath, and in English, "I've never, ever had a, a guy in my life before. I lived in a basement for fifteen years. The guys in the flock, you'll meet them, they're like my brothers, and Joey IS my brother. I-I don't know how relationships work, I've never even hugged a guy before..."

"Me neither, except not a girl. So let's make our way through together." He paused. "Are you scared?"

"...Yes."

"Me too."

We kissed again at the same time, swallowing our fears, only this time harder. He suddenly stood, scooping me up in his arms. He pulled back and jumped off the ledge, thrusting his light brown wings into the midnight sky.

I could only gasp involuntarily and cling to him tighter.

"I don't want to wake anyone up, or anything," he explained softly.

"What did you think we'd be doing, Norway?" I ask with a sly smile.

He blushed furiously, and stammered, "Wha- nothing like-that-I mean-I only meant-"

"I know what you meant."

We landed in yet another cave, with some sand on the floor of it. He didn't put me down, he just let us both fall down to the ground, already putting his lips to mine. I knotted my fingers in his wet-sand-colored hair, and he put his hands on my hips, letting the tips of his fingers press into my skin. I stretched out my wings, and he still had his partially spread, as if he'd forgotten them. Our feathers brushed together as our wings circled, like a second pair of arms, doubling our embrace. A quiet sound escaped my lips, expressing my need for air. He took his mouth off mine to let me breathe, but never let his lips break contact with my skin, tracing a trail down the side of my jaw, along my neck. I change my mind; insomnia isn't so lonely after all, when you have someone to share it with. 

I woke up lying on his chest, with a smile on my face. The smile slowly faded when I realized what time it was, judging by the rising sun.

"Alex," I half-shouted in a panic. "Wake up!"

"What?" he said, suddenly very awake. He quickly realized the problem and we both scrambled up, brushing the sand off ourselves and jumping into the ever-lightening sky.

"We have to get back," he said. "Do you know what they'll think if they catch us?"

"Oh I KNOW what they'll think. So are we really going to hide this?"

"Yes, at least for now. We'll go into it gradually. And if we have the urge to say anything about it, we'll say it in Norwegian, alright? Maybe even yell it so it seems like we're arguing."

I nodded. True, I didn't want to lie to our friends, especially about something like this, but at the same time I liked the secrecy of it all. It was kind of like Romeo and Juliet. Oh man, listen to me; I'm turning into such a girl.

We lightly touched down into the first cave, taking note that everyone still seemed to be asleep. Someone moved in the corner, and we froze. Then I realized who it was, and rushed over to her, the girl we'd rescued.

Her jade eyes opened, almost the exact same color as her wings. She caught sight of me and smiled.

"Morning," I said in a quiet voice, trying not to scare her.

She didn't answer, just sat up and warily looked around, unsure and confused, maybe even a little scared.

"It's alright," I told her, and she turned her gaze back to me. "You're safe now."

Her body seemed to visibly relax a little bit.

"Do you have a name?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"Can I give you one? We have to call you something."

She smiled and nodded shyly.

I thought for a moment, searching my Norwegian vocabulary, and taking note of the species if bird she seemed to have come from.

"What about Kolibri?" I asked. "We can call you Bri for short."

She nodded, and then leaned in, cupping her hands around her mouth to whisper in my ear, glancing at Alex. I turned my head to the side and leaned forward slightly.

"I like it," she said in her ethereal voice. "It's really pretty."

**DONE! FYI, Kolibri is Norwegian for… never mind, you'll figure it out later.**** Feel free to guess, unless you all really DO hate to guess things… Gah, I love Bri! She popped herself into my head one day and I couldn't continue writing this chapter without adding her. Man, I'm drained, that was an eventful chapter, no? Reviews don't dictate my updating ability, they just motivate me! Meaning I update whether anyone reviews or not, I do this for ME. But, reviews are AWESOME. Just saying. Merry Christmas! Jk, its spring but it's snowing here, so yeah.**


	13. Gettin' the Group Together

**Know what? I don't even remember specifically how long ago I updated. A week, maybe two. But ill try and do more than just this one chapter within a week. I'm on break so I should be able to do so. Tip for fellow writers (all of you): Try to avoid finishing two things within twelve hours. It feels great, and you're all accomplished, but then for like at least a week after, you CAN'T write any more than a sentence at a time, cuz you're too drained. Writer's block!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR, the Wilsons (except Jess), or a decent painkiller. But I do own this awesome ten-page chapter! Wait, what? BoOkWoRm wrote the entire following chapter? I'm not combining our work into one chapter like usual? Well then I don't own this. Just read it and leave me to my misery then!**

Max's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

"NO! NO! NO! NO! I am so not wearing it!" I shouted at Ella. We were all headed to a Christmas party, and my dear sweet sister wanted me to wear this awful outfit. It was full out pink with lace! LACE! Even I have enough fashion sense not to wear it. Ella laughed at me.

"Well if you're not going to wear this one then you'll have to wear the other one," she said. I grimaced. The other one was a black knee high dress, with thin straps, a back that could cover up my wings, and a small bow on the side. I'm not that all into dressing up, but I guess if I have to.

I put on the dress and allowed Nudge, Angel and Ella to fix my hair. They put it down and with small curls. Nudge added a sparkly pin. Ella had me ware her snowflake necklace too. When I finally got to look at myself in the mirror, I nearly scared myself.

This was not me. I mean it was, but I looked different, I looked like a hot teenage girl. I couldn't help but smile.

"I think she likes it," Angel said. We all laughed.

Back downstairs the boys were looking sharp. Iggy wore a light gray dress shirt with white pants. Dylan wore a green dress shirt that fit him perfectly also in white pants. Gazzy wore a blue dress shirt that was tucked into his black pants. But the one who caught my eye was Fang. As always he wore all black, but he was even cuter, if it were possible. And the look he gave me made me blush. He was obviously taken away as much as I was.

"Whoa Max!" Dylan said, trying not to drool.

"Wow Max you're so pretty!" Gazzy let out. All the girls laughed, mom too. I was waiting for Fang to say something. I can't believe how girlish I'm acting. Most of the time I wouldn't care, but now I want him to notice me. Just like I noticed him.

"You look wonderful Max." Fang finally said. I smiled at him and he gave me that half sided smile I loved so much. 

When we got to the party mom pointed us to where the rest of the teens were hanging out. I was on high alert, just in case anything goes on. I stood by the far wall watching over the flock and Ella as they partied. Fang did the same but on the wall to my left. Iggy standing next to Dylan were across from me. I watched as Gazzy and Angel talked to some other kids about their age. I looked over to see Ella and Nudge talking to some other girls. I could barely hear their conversations. Something about techno music. I scan the room for any threats. I don't see any but I do see Sadie and Nate. They both were just coming in. Sadie didn't see me but Nate did. He smiled at me but then caught a glance at Fang, the smile faded.

"Here comes trouble," Angel said. I saw that she and Gazzy were at my side. I looked down at them.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She just saw Ella, and wants revenge," Angel said. I looked over at Ella. She was laughing along with Nudge and the other girls. I looked over to see Sadie walking towards her.

"What's she thinking?" I asked Angel. Normally I wouldn't do this, but when it comes to family, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

"She's going to embarrass Ella in front of everyone!" she tells me.

I immediately move towards Ella just as Sadie reaches her. I can sense the others following me.

"What are you doing?" I hear Ella shout.

"How could you do that Ella?" Sadie shouted back. I got there to see Sadie's face in tears, and Ella confused.

"What?" Ella asked insulted.

"You knew I liked him! But you couldn't keep you slutty hands off him!" Sadie shouted.  
"What are you saying? I didn't do any of that!" Ella shouted in defense.

I was so confused. What were they talking about?

"Sadie said that Ella slept with the guy she liked," Nudge said, filling us in.

"Who are they talking about?" I asked. Nudge looked up at us sad and worried.

"Nick," she answered. We all looked up at Fang. His face was hard and pissed.

Then we heard the crowed go wild. We looked back to see that Sadie had hit Ella. Without knowing it, I stepped in front of Ella protectively.

"Enough," I said. She scowled at me.

"Stay out of this." she warned. She tried to walk around me, but I stepped in front of her. She looked up at me.

"I said, enough," I said more fiercely this time. She scoffed at me and tried to go around me again. I stepped in front of her again. This time she lashed out for me. Her hand came up and came close to my face, but if it wasn't for my fast reflexes I would have gotten hit. I grabbed her wrist just in time.

"Don't try that again," I said, and threw her wrists making her step back a few paces. I turned around to help up Ella. She grabbed my hand and I started to pull her up when I felt an attack coming on. Not letting go of Ella I looked behind me to see Sadie coming in to tackle me. I got ready to fight, but then I saw a black figure stand in front of me. Sadie abruptly stopped. I pulled Ella all the way to her feet, and finally got a look at the figure. It was Fang, go figure. Sadie just stared up at him with pure hate, and he looked down at her coldly.

"With your lying mouth I would be surprised anyone would date you." I heard Dylan say. We all looked at him like he was an idiot. But with that we all walked away from a now stunned Sadie.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

I sat with a sobbing Ella in the kitchen. Ella was still worked up about the party.

"How could she do this? Why would she let a guy come between us?" she asked. I didn't know what to do in these types of situations. I've never actually been in this type of situation. Where were Angel and Nudge when you needed them?

"It's alright, Ella. It's going to be fine," I heard Iggy say, coming through the door. Ella smiled up at him. He went over to the fridge and opened the top one. He reached in and had a puzzled look on his face. "Where's the ice cream? Don't you girls eat that stuff when you're upset?" Ella laughed.

"It's too cold for ice cream. But thanks for trying Iggy," she said. He smiled and shut the fridge.

"We got it!" Angel and Nudge burst through the door with reusable bags (always good to be green) hanging on their arms.

"Got what?" I asked. They smiled and put the bags on the counter in front of us.

"Hot chocolate!" they squealed. Then mom came in through the door.

"I thought it was appropriate for this crisis," she said. I smiled at her. I guess it's true. Moms did know everything. No one told her what had happen, she just knew.

"Thanks." Ella said. 

So we all fixed ourselves cups of hot chocolate. The warm liquid going down my throat felt so good. Fang and I were fixing our seventh cup when we heard Angel yell, "Z!" we looked at her with concern. She looked like she was concentrating, and confused, but then again we all were. Angel then shook her head.

"What is it Ange?" I asked, using her old nickname. Angel looked up at me.

"I think I just heard Z's thoughts," she said. We all looked at her confused. We all looked around seeing if Z was somehow near. She wasn't. So how was Angel hearing her thoughts?

"Angel are you sure you-" I began, but she cut me off.

"Liz! Liz is that you?" she shouted. We were all so confused. Now she hears Liz's thoughts?

"Angel what is going on?" I asked. Angel shushed me, and closed her eyes and brought her fingers to her temples, as if she were concentrating really _really_ hard. We stared at her for awhile. I looked over at Fang, he had no expression as usual, but when he looked at me I could tell he was just as confused as I was. We waited for awhile. I wondered if we were supposed to do something, and if Angel was okay. She looked so confused, yet so focused. Suddenly Angel sighed and put her hands down. She slowly opened her eyes. She looked exhausted.

"Max," she called out to me.

"What is it Ange?" I asked. She looked at me worried.

"I just talked to Liz," she said. Everyone stared at her.

"How is that possible? Is she near?" Total asked. Angel shook her head.

"They're in a cave about a mile from Jess's mom's house. They just escaped an attack from Erasers."

"What?" Gazzy and Iggy jumped up at the news.

"Liz says that they're okay. Thanks to some boys. She didn't give much information. But I could tell that she was scared," Angel replied. I looked at her blankly. The girls were just attacked? Why is it that the flock and I haven't ran into a single one, but Z and the girls get attacked?

"Max we have to go to them!" Angel said. No hesitation, I agreed. As much as it killed me to leave Mom and Ella and even Total and Akila, the girls need us. They could be lying in that cave bleeding to death for all we know.

"Pack up. We need to move," I ordered. The flock immediately got busy. I turned to Ella and my mom. I really hated to leave Ella in this situation with Sadie. As if she could read my mind Ella smiled.

"Don't worry Max. Bring them back to us. We'll see you then," she said. I smiled at her and rushed over to her to give her a hug. I turned to my mom, who was smiling too.

"I love you Max." she said.

"I love you too mom." I turned to leave and Fang had already packed up my stuff. I followed the flock out the door and flew in the direction of the mountains.

Z's POV (BY BoOkWoRm)

When I woke up everyone else was asleep. I looked out of the cave; I'd say it was just about noon. I got up and stretched. I looked over our new little group. Jess was at my feet lying next to Bri. Liz was about a foot away from me lying next to DeSean. Alex was sleeping in a sitting position at Jess's feet. Where was Sheen? Ugh! I let him be look out and he disappears! Way to go, Z! You could have let Jess and Liz die! I walk to the edge of the cave and saw how high up we were. Not very high. I scanned the area in search of any threats. When I was satisfied there weren't any, I turned back into the cave.

"BOO!" I head a small shout. When I turned around I saw Sheen. Instinctively I reached out to punch him, he quickly ducked.

"You friggin-!" I stared to shout but remembered that the group was still sleeping. Sheen chuckled.

"Afternoon to you, too." I held myself back from strangling him.

"Where were you?"

"Why? You missed me?" he teased. This time I pushed him, he stumbled a little, and laughed.

"You weren't on look out duty."

"Yeah I was, I was just watching from higher up," he said, pointing up at a higher ledge. I gave him a deadly glare. It would have intimidated him; only if my stomach hadn't growled so loud it could have woken everyone up. "Hungry?" he teased. I glowered at him.

I turned around and headed over to Jess. I lightly shook her shoulder and she woke up looking at me groggily.

"I'm going out for food. You're in charge until I get back," I told her. She nodded and started to sit up. She yawned and I unfurled my wings and started to walk out of the cave.

"Wait, can I go?" Sheen asked. I started to say no, but he kept on talking. "I know what the guys like. Besides you won't even know I'm there." He tried to give me a seductive smile. It worked a little, I'll admit that much.

"Fine. But keep up." I flew out of the cave.

He did keep up. He was a fast flyer, but not as fast as Max of course. I mean come on have you seen that girl fly? Anyways, we got to a little grocery store not far from the cave, if you flew there. We were walking down an isle when a cute guy in a red vest, who looked around 16, came up to us.

"Can I help you find anything?" he asked. He gave me a cute smile.

"Could you direct us towards the fruits isle?" Sheen asked. The guy looked at Sheen and then back at me. I rolled my eyes and looked back down to our basket.

"Yah they're in isle 3," the guy said.

"Thanks." Sheen grabbed my arm. I quickly pulled away from him. I gave a look that said _Nobody grabs me like that._

"Anything else?" the guy asked, completely ignoring Sheen. I smiled at him and shook my head. "You sure?" he asked giving me another cute smile. I nodded. "Well okay. Have a nice day. Oh by the way. I like your highlights." He tugged on a strand of my hair. I smiled and he walked away. I turned towards isle 3 ignoring Sheen's muttering.

"'By the way I like you highlights.' What a pick up line…" he mumbled.

"I thought you were going to be invisible?" I asked, finally reaching the fruits.

"What was that back there?" he answered with another question.

"What was what?"

"That whole 'you're so cute' act." He then smiled a girlish smile and giggled. "Oh no, we don't need any more help. Thanks though," he said in a girly voice. I half expected him to twirl his hair or something.

"Jealous?" I asked.

"Yes, actually. I am very jealous. Don't forget we are made for each other." I rolled my eyes.

"So you say."

"So your heart says." he countered. I sighed. I'm never going to hear the end of this. I picked up an apple and flicked it. I heard a low thump and I put it in the basket.

"What was that?" Sheen asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Why did you hit the apple?"

"I was checking if it was ripe." He looked at me questioningly. I sighed. "The lower the pitch the riper the fruit." He then took and apple and thumbed it. I higher thumping sound came. I shook my head. "Not ripe." He put it back. He did the same thing to another apple and this time a low sound came out. "Ripe." I held out the basket. He laughed.

"Who taught you how to do this?" he asked.

"My...mom," I said. I can't believe I told him that. He nodded. We picked up some other fruit that we thought the group would like. Basically all we got was fruit and a box full of juice boxes. We paid and headed back to the cave. Neither of us said anything on our way back.

When we got back to the cave I saw everyone flying just outside the cave. They were all hovering in the air. "What's going on?" I asked. Jess smiled at me.

"Bri's showing us how she flies." She pointed to a certain spot in the sky. I looked closely and I could make out the small shape of Bri. Her wings moving so fast they almost seemed invisible. She flew from one spot to another, just like a...a...a hummingbird.

"She's beautiful," I found myself saying. Jess laughed.

"When you guys are done, we got food for you," Sheen said.

We all entered the cave and Sheen and I passed out the juice and fruit. When I passed the bag to Bri and Jess, Bri pulled out the last apple, and Jess pulled out a banana. "I don't want a banana; I want an orange," she complained.

"Too bad. Liz and DeSean got the last oranges," I said. She made a pouty face. "Don't even," I said.

"But I don't want a banana."

"Eat the banana."

"You can't make me!"

"You sure about that?" I then tackled her, ripping the banana out of her hands so I could peel it. Bri probably looked horrified. Everyone just looked at us like we were crazy. "Eat the banana!"

"NO!" she shouted back. I shoved the banana in her mouth. "NOO!" she shouted and spit the banana out.

"JESS! JUST EAT IT!" She shook her head and clenched her jaw together. I pinched her nose so she had to open her mouth to breath. She kicked under me and struggled and then finally opened her mouth, gasping for air. I then shoved the last of banana down her throat. I got off of her and smiled in victory. "There was that so bad?" I asked.

"You are so MEAN!" she choked.

"It's a gift," I said. She wiped the remaining pieces of banana off her mouth. Alex walked over to her.

"I got you some orange juice," he offered. She then said something in Norwegian at him. I turned around and walked to the edge of the cave. I grabbed a pear that had been left in the bag. I grabbed a juice box and sat on the ledge of the cave. I took a bite out of the pear and felt someone watching me. I looked to my side to see Sheen. I rolled my eyes. He came and sat down by me.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" he asked.

"No."

"How do you feel about me?" he asked anyway. Did he not hear me say no? I looked at him blankly. "I get the feeling that you hate me." Well gee I wonder why? It couldn't be because you just turn up out of the blue, almost have us killed, and tell me I'm supposed to be your other half. It couldn't be any of those reasons. I sighed.

"I definitely have strong feelings for you, but I haven't decided if they're hate or something entirely different," I reply. He looked at me like he was studying me.

"So, you don't hate me?" he asked.

"Like I said, I'm undecided." He smiled. "What?" I asked.

"I don't care what you think or say. I'm just going to say it," he said. I looked at him, confused. "I love you, Z." He was loud enough that all the chattering inside the cave stopped and everyone looked over at us.

"Okay, I hate you," I said. He laughed and hugged me tightly. I could hear a chorus of 'aww's in the background. I pushed him away from me. A little too hard because he fell of the ledge. At first I felt sorry but when I started to flap his wings and laugh I wish he splattered on the forest floor.

"I LOVE Z!" he shouted. Everyone burst into laughter. What is with this guy? I chucked the remains of my pear at him, he easily caught it.

"Would you shut up? Everyone in the next town can hear you!" I shouted. He laughed again.

"They should hear it!" he laughed. As much as I wanted to strangle him I couldn't help but smile. Something inside me thought what he was doing was cute. But I wouldn't let anyone know that. I flew out towards him, hiding the smile. He saw my face and flew for his life.  
After awhile everyone else joined in, playing a game of tag. When I was tagged It, I looked out into the horizon to see if anyone was in view. But then I saw a bunch of black figures coming towards us. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. I flew back to the others. They flew away thinking I was going to tag them. "GET IN THE CAVES! NOW!" I shouted. They recognized my authoritive voice and stopped and looked at me confused. I was pushing them towards the caves. They all saw the figures getting closer. They all flew into the cave.  
We waited a couple minutes hoping that they didn't see us. Flyboys were too stupid to look in every cave. We could hear flapping getting closer. We all held our breaths. We waited and waited. Then...

"I found them!" I saw her perky face and blond hair. A giant smile spread across her face.

"Angel!" Liz ran to her and hugged her tight. The rest of the flock came into the cave.

"You guys okay?" Max asked. Then she got a look at the four new kids. "Who are they?" she asked.

**Ok, may I add: one reason for the delay was I lost a piece of this somewhere. No idea where it could have gone. So I had to get it from BoOkWoRm again. No, not her fault, I'm the one who lost it. And geez, Jess, PMSing much?**

**Jess: Wait what?**

**Me: You mean you don't know?**

**Jess: …**

**Me: So they packed your brain FULL of any information they thought would be vital, and they forgot to teach you THAT?**

**Z: Wait, what does PMS stand for exactly? She could figure it out from there…**

**Jess: What are you talking about? What does it stand for?**

**Dylan, Iggy, Gazzy, Fang: Pissed at Men Syndrome!**

**Jess: That makes no sense.**

**Me: Guys leave her alone! She grew up in a basement, she wouldn't know better. (Muffled background noise of me…playing with duct tape when they don't shut it.) Lesson learned. One that note, please review!**


	14. Where Things Get Messy

**Man, the chapter was a BEAST to edit. It took BW and me a little while to get it all down just right. But of course, we were all over the place with it. There are very many changes in POV, here, and I apologize ahead of time. I had to Cut Copy Paste Rinse and Repeat several times to get it all in a nice little readable order. It may be a bit confusing, so, sorry about that if it is. I did my best to put each little chunk in the right place. I wish I could cut out some of the different points of view, but they really all are needed. So, good luck, have fun.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own pretty much anything but the OCs here, and half of those go to BW anyway. No MR for me! Please ignore the girl behind the curtain…**

Max's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

Angel flew towards a hidden cave. We were following her 'cause she could hear their thoughts. She then turned into the cave. "I found them!" I heard her shout. We all landed in the cave and saw Liz rushing over to hug Angel. I looked her over, she seemed fine, and then I looked at Z and Jess.

"You guys okay?" I asked. Then I saw four new figures standing behind them. Three boys and a little girl who was clinging to Jess. "Who are they?" Z stepped forward obviously taking the leader role for this little group.

"These are fugitives. Like us." She looked back at one of the guys. He looked Asian. He looked at the other guys and nodded. Slowly they expanded their wings. The Asian kid had dark colored black wings, but they weren't as dark as Fang's. The white guy's wings were a dark brown sandy color. Then there was a black guy, his wings mostly white, but with black and grey tips. Then I saw the little girl, she also looked Asian, and her hair covered most of her face. She looked up at Jess.

"It's okay. Let her see your wings," Jess told her. The little girl looked at me and shyly expanded her wings. They were a light blue with a streak of yellow, they were so cute.

"Max." Z brought my attention back to her. "This is Sheen," she pointed to the Asian guy. "Alex," she pointed to the white guy. "DeSean," she pointed to the black guy. "And Bri." She pointed to the little Asian girl, who stood closer to Jess.

"What the hell did you guys do over the break?" Dylan asked. I snapped back at him to shut up. He stepped back. I faced Z and the others. I smiled and introduced the rest of us.

"I'm Max; this is Fang, Iggy, Dylan, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel." They all said hi to each other. I motioned Z to come over, while the rest of the flock got to know the newbies.

"Yah?" she sounded like she was in trouble.

"What exactly happened?" I asked. She told the whole story. How they met the boys, the attack and the escape. I was amazed by how much they went through in so little time. "Wait, so these guys come straight from the school?" She nodded. "And they're sure that they aren't being tracked?" The look on her face didn't help. She turned back at the Asian kid.

"Sheen," she called. He looked up with a smile. She motioned for him to come over. He glided next to her. "Are you guys being tracked?" she asked. She just came out and asked, straight to the punch. Well, that's Z for you.

"Not that I know of," he said. He turned around to ask the other guys. "Alex, DeSean. We being tracked?" Everyone looked back at us. I sighed.

"They didn't think about having us tracked. They had Sean," Alex said. Sheen nodded, and turned back to me.

"Anything else you'd like to know?" he asked. I shook my head. He smiled and then put his arm around Z. "Alright. If there is, just let me know." Z pushed his arm off of her and gave him a deadly glare. "What?" he asked.

"Ugh!" she let out and walked away from him. He went after her, laughing. I looked at them curiously. Was I missing something? I looked around the cave to get a clue.

"Max," Fang called me over. I walked over to him where he was leaning against the cave wall. "Have you noticed how cozy the new guys are to the girls?" Actually I did. Alex and Jess were sitting next to each other whispering something in some foreign language, while Bri laid her head against Jess's shoulder, listening to Gazzy trying to talk to her. DeSean and Liz were laughing together and were cozy up together talking to Nudge and Angel. Iggy and Dylan were laughing at Z who was trying to get away from Sheen.

"There is definitely something I'm missing," I said. Fang nodded in agreement. "Angel," I called to her. She looked up at me with a smile. I usually would be against her doing this, but I wanted answers. She skipped over to me.

"Yah Max?" she asked.

"I want you to read the new boy's minds. Tell me what you find." She looked at me questioningly, but did what I told her.

"They're happy," she said. "They like being here with the group, and are beginning to like the flock." She paused for a moment. "But there's this...something... I can't read it well." she said. She looked up at me apologetically.

"Thanks Ange. You got something at least," I said. She smiled at me. Then she looked over to where Z was about to fly out of the cave. She looked curious. I followed her gaze and so did Fang.

"Shut up!" Z said, threatening Sheen.

"But I can't stop saying it," he said.

"Then say it in your head, so I don't have to hear it."

"I love you."

"Stop."

"I love you, Z."

"Shut it!"

Fang, Angel, and I looked at them, confused. Did he just say he loves her?

"We were made for each other! You can't deny it!" Everyone's eyes were on them.

"Will you SHUT UP!" Z shouted back, which made him laugh. She flew out of the cave and Sheen followed her.

"Here we go again," Liz sighed. DeSean laughed.

"Why doesn't she just admit that she likes him?" Alex asked.

"Because she's Z, and Z is stubborn," Jess answered.

"Wait!" I shouted. They all looked at me. "I will not stand to be left out of the info anymore. Someone better tell me what the hell is going on." Jess sighed.

"Max. You know how Dylan keeps telling you that he's made for you?" she said. That made me blush.

"Well, maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But we know for sure that these guys," she meant Alex, Sheen, and DeSean, "are made for us." The flock looked between the girls and the boys.

"So you guys were programmed for each other?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, basically," Alex replied.

"See, Max. I wasn't wrong. You and I are meant to be together," Dylan said to me. My mouth opened to protest but Fang beat me to it.

"Don't even try to go there dude. We've been over this before." Dylan narrowed his eyes at him.

"Well the programming could go one way," DeSean said, speaking for the first time since we got here. We all looked at him waiting for him to explain. "Do you guys see the way Z keeps rejecting Sheen. Pretty harsh if you ask me. If she liked him in that way, even just a little, she wouldn't be so cruel to him."

"Dude is shit out of luck," Iggy said.

"It's just like Max and Dylan. Dylan likes Max, Max likes Fang, and Fang likes Max. That leaves Dyl out of the group," Nudge observed.

"Yah, but Z doesn't like anybody. It's just Sheen likes Z, end of story," Gazzy pointed out.

"Unless she's in love with someone we don't know," Iggy suggested.

"Like who?" Jess asked. We all thought for a moment.

"What about Joey?" Liz asked.

"You mean my brother Joey?" Jess asked. Liz nodded. Jess just laughed.

"What?" Liz asked. "It's possible. I mean they did spend time together, alone." Jess stopped laughing.

"What? No they didn't," she argued.

"Yah huh! Remember that time when we had our first snowball fight? She and Joey went into the forest together. The one time she carried Joey home, and in the kitchen before the attack."

"I can tell you right now that there is nothing going on between Z and Joey. She doesn't even call him Joey, she calls him Joseph."

"Yeah to hide the fact that she likes him."

"You are so wrong! And I'll prove it."

They argued for awhile. Geeze how does Z put up with these two? Getting tired of it all I walked to the edge of the cave. I breathed in the winter air. We'll spend the night here, and head back to mom's tomorrow. I then felt Fang's presence.

"You okay?" he asked. I nodded. He sat down his legs hanging of the side of the ledge. I did the same.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I'm wondering about who these guys really are. Wondering about the programming, if it really could be one sided," I said. We stared out into the distance. I could hear Jess and Liz still arguing, and the other's putting in their comments. I got a vague memory of Joey. I remember his big green eyes, and his turtle neck shirt. That's basically all I remember. I sighed. Then I felt Fang's fingers softly glazing over mine.

"It's going to be okay. Relax Max," he said. I smiled at him and leaned my head against his shoulder. Usually I wouldn't show much affection, but I needed someone to lean on right now.  
I relaxed so quickly that Z's screaming my name gave me a heart attack. I looked up to see her flying towards me, and Fang, Sheen close behind her.

"MAX! FLYBOYS!" she screeched. I looked behind her and against the dying sun I saw the shadows of Flyboys.

Oh you have got to be kidding me!

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm) 

"Will you SHUT UP!" I shouted and flew out of the cave, with a laughing Sheen following me.

"I love you Z!"

"And I hate you Sheen!"

"I don't care, I love you!"

"UGGGHHHH!" I flew faster and tried to shake him off my tail. We flew around in circles. We were far from the cave and the flock, but I let myself fly further away, knowing if anything happened Max and Fang would be there to protect them.

"Z! Look out!" I heard Sheen yell.

I looked in front of me and saw a rocket flying towards me. I immediately stopped flying, dropping altitude. Oh shoot! I tried flapping my wings, but then I felt strong arms under me. I looked up to see Sheen's concerned face. I looked away and found that we were hidden by trees. He landed on a nearby branch and told me to stay silent.

We could hear footsteps getting closer. We looked down to find the rocket and a bunch of boys coming to find it.

"That was awesome!" one of the boys said.

"Yeah, but I feel bad about that bird," a second boy said.

"It stopped before the rocket hit it."

"Yeah, but it fell out of the sky," the third boy said.

"So?" asked the first boy.

"SO! It could be hurt!" the second boy shouted, appalled. The first boy sighed.

"I'm sorry, but we have no idea where the bird is. I know how much you love animals, but we can't help what we can't find."

"Just stop being a jerk," the second boy said, picking up the rocket and leaving. The two other boys followed.

I let out a breath I realized I'd been holding. Then I felt Sheen rub my back. I immediately jumped down from the branch, landing pretty hard on the ground, but the snow caught my fall. Of course Sheen followed me. I guess I had to thank him for catching me.

"Umm, thanks. I guess," I said. He just smiled at me.

"Do I get a reward?" he asked, and I had a pretty good feeling on what type of reward he wanted.

"Just the great feeling of being thanked, and knowing you did a good deed," I said. He sighed and shook his head. "You're never going to give up are you?" I asked. He looked at me questioningly.

"What if we got lost here?" he started, "and the only way to stay warm was to-?"

"No."

"What if the only way to save your life was to-?"

"No."

"Okay. How about-?"

"And, no." He sighed.

"What if it was the only way to save the flock?" he challenged. I had to think about that.

"Fine, if the flock was in danger, but I would try everything in my power and more before we ever did." He smiled.

"So I still have a chance."

"As much of a chance as Dylan has, and let me tell you, he and I will never happen," I said. He shrugged.

"But I'm not Dylan," he said. He's right; he's no Dylan. Dylan isn't as pushy. I expanded my wings and flew up. Sheen followed me. I guess we should get back to the flock. Max probably wants an explanation about Sheen and me. When I told her the story about how we got to the cave, I didn't really tell everything. As you can tell.

"Let's get back to the others," I called to Sheen. He nodded. I made a huge U-turn, and I didn't like what I saw in front of me- a huge group of Flyboys. I kept flying but I couldn't get myself to turn and find a different way to the flock.

"Z!" Sheen shouted. His shout broke me from my dazed state. I was about a yard from the Flyboys and they were getting closer.

"Tuck and roll," I ordered. I started for the ground and remembered that Sheen doesn't know the flock's terminology. I looked behind me briefly and found him following me. Okay, I guess he'll just copy me. I tucked in my wings so I could lose height faster.

When I was a few feet from the ground, I literally rolled. What I wasn't expecting was Sheen landing on me. I stared up at his face. His electric blue gaze sent a thrilling shiver down my spine. He then got up quickly.

"Sorry," he said, and helped me to my feet.

I started to run in the direction of the cave. I could hear rustling behind us. It's not like Sheen to be so noisy.

"Z! NO!" Sheen called after me and I felt him grab my arm, but then he lost his grip. I wanted to look back, but I ran straight into a huge clearing.

In this clearing were a bunch of black vans. Vans I remember all too well.

"This is not good," I said.

"Nice work. You brought one of them back to us." I saw a Whitecoat step out of the van. I didn't recognize him, but I instantly hated him. I felt Sheen grab me from behind, like he was trying to keep me from escaping. Then it hit me. He did this! He set this whole thing up! He pretended to be good just so I could trust him! And Jess, and Liz! The flock! They were at the cave with Alex and DeSean! Probably being attacked right now!

"YOU LYING SON OF A-" Sheen covered my mouth, cutting me off.

"Where are the others?" Sheen asked.

"They haven't returned yet," the Whitecoat said. Like you don't know where they are, I thought. I struggled to get free, but with the position he had me in, it seemed impossible.

"Have they got the other girls?" Sheen asked. This guy just keeps getting me pissed. He's acting like he hasn't spent time with us. Like he's been chasing me for these past couple of days. Not hanging out.

"Don't know," the Whitecoat said. I growled. He won't get his hands on them. "Put her in the cage will you?"

Sheen walked forward pushing me. I stood my ground not moving an inch. He had to uncover my mouth so he could use his other hand to get me to move. That's when I let him have it.

"YOU LYING PIECE OF S***!" I shouted. "I trusted you! I actually thought you cared! WELL SCREW YOU! GO DIE AND BURN IN HELL!" He kept pushing me and the Whitecoat left us. Sheen pushed me behind one of the vans, where three cages sat-I'm guessing for us girls-but I was more into yelling at Sheen. "You know, Hell is too subtle for you. You'll burn in the deep ends of Tartarus!" I yelled, remembering what Kyle had told me about Mythology.

Suddenly, Sheen slams me against the side of the van, and pins himself against me. Then I felt his lips on mine, forcing a kiss. What? First betrayal then rape? This guy is in for it! He pulled back and still had my whole body pinned against the van. I was too shocked and pissed to come up with anything to say.

"It's not what you think," he said. I opened my mouth to give him a smart-ass reply, but he continued. "They still think were after you guys. They don't know that we've joined your side."

"How do I know you aren't just lying?" I asked. He searched my eyes and sighed. He slowly got off of me. That's when I punched him. He didn't fall like last time.

"That was for kissing me."

"I deserved that," he said, rubbing the left side of his face. "But seriously, we have got to get you out of here."

"Why? So you can lead them to the flock?" I retorted.

"No, to get you safe. If I wanted to lead them to the flock I wouldn't need your help." He has a point. But I wasn't sure.

"How can I trust you?" I asked, my voice a bit shaken.

"Look at me," he said. I did. His almond-shaped eyes that held those electric blue color, his dark colored wings, his gentle face. "I'm pathetic," he said. That shocked me. He seemed like such an egomaniac. "I had no need to live; until...until I met you." I could feel my face get hot.

"When I saw you I knew that I had to protect you from them. Maybe it's the programming talking, maybe not, but now? Now I have something to live for, and that's you. If you die, then I die," he said. I shook my head.

"Sheen, you are such a jerk," I said, and expanded my wings. I'm such an idiot for doing this. He got a curious look on his face. "Come on. We have to warn the flock," I said. He smiled up at me. "But if you give me any reason to believe your helping destroy the flock I swear. I. Will. Destroy. You." His goofy smile turned into a horrified one.

I took off him following. I could hear shouting and cars revving up, and crushing the snow beneath them. I flew faster.

"Keep going!" Sheen shouted. Confused, I looked back at him, just in time to see him change into me. He flew off to the right. Then the Flyboys came loose. Half of them followed me and the other half followed Sheen. I wished him luck as I flew off.

I wasn't going to the cave just yet. No better time to practice my new 'gift'. I concentrated and I felt the flames come to surface. I turned on my back so I was flying upside-down. I looked at the Flyboys. I gathered fire in my hands and threw fire balls at them. I hit a few with the first one and the second one hit a couple more. I looked behind me to see I was about to hit a cliff. Remembering the little lesson Max taught me about Flyboys being bad at sharp turns, I flew straight up. I'm no math whiz but I think that was a 90 degree angle. All of them crashed into the cliff.

I flew off towards the cave and the flock. I then see a huge explosion near the side of the cliff I was just at. Then I saw my own figure. Sheen! He saw me and flew towards me. He then turned back into his original form. We went towards the cave to warn the others. Then I could hear more flapping.

"More of them," Sheen informed me. Oh for the love of chocolate chip cookies. We were too close to the cave now. We couldn't turn back. I flew faster I think faster than I ever have before. Sheen fell behind a little, but stayed at my side.

I then saw Max and Fang sitting on the ledge of the cave. "MAX!" I screamed. She looked up in my direction. "MAX! FLYBOYS!"

Jess' POV (By Me)

Flyboys. Awesome. But, at least now I was a stronger fighter, and I was sure I could handle it. Everyone leapt out of the cave, but I paused, turning to Bri, crouching down to her level.

"I want you to stay here, and if someone comes that you don't know, fly away as far and as fast as you can, until you're somewhere safe. I'll come find you, I promise, okay?"

She nodded, eyes wide, though she seemed kind of relieved that she didn't have to fight. I turned and launched myself out of the cave and into the cold winter air.

The amount of Flyboys both surprised and scared me. There seemed to be at least five, maybe ten, in each direction. We fought our hardest, but there were so many, more than ever before.  
Something on the ground caught my eye, and I looked down to see it. Black cars, probably all full of Whitecoats. Somehow, I had this sick feeling my dad had helped them find us.

While looking down at the cars, I failed to notice the razor sharp claws being swung at me, aimed for my stomach.

Max's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

Z and Sheen stopped coming to take on a couple Flyboys. I got everyone in action. Iggy, Gazzy and Dylan went to find supplies for a giant bomb. Their idea, not mine. Nudge and Angel tag teamed and took down a couple of the Flyboys. Even Alex and DeSean helped. Liz immediately got into the fight. Jess told Bri to stay in the cave then joined in. Fang and I kicked butt of course. I went after the first one I saw. He looked surprised to see me. I hit him in the head with joined fists. He hit the ground so fast it was funny. I went after another one slamming my hands on the side of his head hitting his hears, and popping his ear drums. One of my signature moves. When I looked down I saw a bunch of black vans pulling up. How do they keep finding us? I felt a sudden weight hit me, sending me flying backwards, and I hit the side of the mountain. Hissing at the pain I looked to see Gazzy and Iggy throwing snowballs at the Flyboys. And the Flyboys blew up! Snow bombs? How do they manage that? My eyes grew wide as I saw Z help them light up the bombs. She was totally engulfed in flames. She was literally on fire. She threw a fire ball at a cluster of Flyboys, and blew them all up. Gazzy let out a hoot.

I got back into the action flying over to Angel and Nudge. I took out a couple more Flyboys that were getting on their backs. As I ripped out the wings of one of the Flyboys I heard a quick SWOOSH! I looked over to see Z chasing a Flyboy. They flew by Fang and Dylan who were fighting near the entrance of the cave. I let the Flyboy fall to the ground and helped Nudge rip off the arms of another. Then the 'swoosh' came again and Z and a Flyboy flew by again. I then saw something strange; Z flew by Z. I blinked, thinking I was seeing double. But apparently I wasn't. Both Z's flew at a cluster of Flyboys and threw flames at them, destroying them all.

"Max!" Angel screamed. She was being held by a Flyboy. I flew over to her and ripped the head off. Gruesome, I know, but affective. He let go of Angel and fell to the floor, sparks flying everywhere.

"Come on!" I heard Z, but then she transformed into Liz. What the Hell? Liz, or whoever, looked at a Flyboy. The Flyboy instantly shutdown and fell to the floor. "Get Bri!" she shouted at a nearby Z. I looked at Z who followed a Flyboy into the cave.

Alex's POV (By Me)

While fighting Flyboys, I kept a constant eye on Jess. Then I turned around for one second, and when I turned back she was gone. Frantically I looked for her, and then caught sight of her falling to the ground. I dived down after her, and she landed right before I did.

"Jess!" I shout. She looks at me, so far away, yet I can still see every detail. Her slightly parted lips, normally the perfect red-pink color, are pale, and so is her face, which makes her dark brown hair and wings stand out even more.

With a terrified expression, she's clutching her middle with both arms, but it doesn't stop me from seeing the blackish red color of her blood.

"Jess," I say quietly, still not moving because of my shock.

She looks like she might say something, or at least she's trying to, but all that comes out is this broken sound between a whimper and a moan. She falls forward and I run to catch her.

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

As I lit up another bomb for Iggy and Gazzy, Sheen-who had changed into Liz-shouted at me. "Get Bri!" I looked to the cave to see a Flyboy going in. Quickly, I flew after him. I hadn't seen Jess in a long time, I wondered if she was too busy in battle to notice the Flyboy go in for Bri. But whatever the matter was, I had to protect Bri, for Jess. I saw the Flyboy creep up to Bri, who was all curled up into a ball. She didn't hear him come up to her. He reached out to her, and I bolted for him. I grabbed him and pinned him against the wall. Bri looked up startled. I hissed into the Flyboy's face.

"Keep your hands off of her," I said evilly. I then threw him away from Bri, which sent him flying out of the cave. I saw Iggy blow him up. I turned back to Bri who looked scared out of her mind. I turned down my flames, enough for them to not be visible, but just there if I needed them. I smiled at Bri. "It's okay. I won't let them get you." She looked at me, still scared, but believing.

I heard a loud explosion; I looked out the cave to see flames coming towards us. I quickly covered Bri up with my wings. I felt heat surround us, but I didn't dare move. Then as quickly as it came it went. A cool breeze came over us. I slowly uncovered Bri, making sure that the flames couldn't get her, I checked if she was okay. Still scared, but okay. Outside the cave I could hear Gazzy's and Iggy's shouts of victory. Then Max's scolding voice.

"Z and the little girl were in there!" she shouted.

"Oh, crap!" Iggy said.

Jess' POV (By Me)

What if I die? Oh gosh, I think I _am_ going to die. I think of all the people I won't see again. The entire flock, DeSean, Sheen, Liz, Z, Joey, Mom, Bri... My little Kolibri, what will she do? She won't trust them, she'll be all alone. Alex will never know how much I love him, because I don't have a voice to say it. I can't feel my body anymore; I might even already be dead for all I know. I just know Alex is with me or with my body at least. Was he trying to heal me? Or had he already given up, knowing how hopeless it was?

Alex's POV (By Me) 

I'd just finished healing her, but she'd lost so much blood, as I could see from the crimson stain in the snow around her. I'd just heard the footsteps behind me when the needle stabbed into the back of my neck and I fell down next to her.

"...Alex...got...wake..."

The voice was muffled in my drugged ear.

"Hey, Alex, you've..."

I wish they'd let me sleep.

"Alex you've got to wake up!"

I pried open my eyes to see everyone looking down at me. With a burst of adrenaline, I sat up and looked at the place where Jess once lay. There was an imprint in the snow and the stain of blood, but nothing more.

"No..." came the shocked, horrified whisper from my lips.

Jess was gone. She'd been taken to Hell on Earth. The School.

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I took Bri's hand and lead her to the entrance of the cave. I saw smoke, broken Flyboys, and burnt cars. Those two just blew up the whole Flyboy team! I looked up to see a worried and tired flock, but I didn't see Alex or Jess. Where were they?

"Guy's!" I heard Sheen's voice. I looked over at him. "It's Alex!" he said, flying down towards the ground. The flock followed. I looked down at Bri.

"Let's go see if he's okay," I said. She squeezed my hand and expanded her wings. I'll take that as a yes. We flew down with the others. My breath caught in my throat, and I hugged Bri close to me. Alex lay in a pool of bloody snow. He was breathing and he didn't have any wounds. So where did the blood come from?

"Alex, you need to get up," DeSean said hopefully.

"Hey, come on Alex. Get up," Sheen said, crouching next to him. Alex started to stir and get up.

"Alex you need to get up!" Sheen said in an authoritive tone, like he wouldn't let Alex stay down much longer.

Suddenly Alex's eyes popped open, the orange color just jumping at you. He got up quickly and searched around him.

"No…" he whispered. "No, no, no, NO!"

"What?" I asked.

"Jess is gone!" he said. My heart dropped through to the icy floor. They have Jess?

Max's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I knew what was going on inside Z's head. She's planning on getting Jess back. Just like last time. But unlike last time, she has no leads on where to find her. No info to lead her in the direction.

"Did you see which way they went?" she asked. Alex shook his head.

"No, I was knocked out or something," he replied sadly. Z's face went hard.

"Z," I stared.

"Max," she looked at me. "I have to go get her. You know that."

"Yes, but you have no idea where she is."

"I'll find her." She sounded so sure. So stubborn.

"How? There aren't any clues on how to find her." I knew what I was saying was breaking her heart, but I had to slap some sense into her. "Let's go back to my mom's place. It isn't far from here. We can plan things out there."

"No," Z protested. "We need to save Jess now. Who knows what those Whitecoats are doing to her right now?" Tears formed in her eyes but she pushed them back.

"Z. Max is right. We need to plan," Fang said. She gave him a hard, cold stare.

"I'm saving Jess." The entire flock stayed silent during the whole argument.

"You aren't thinking. How are you supposed to help her without knowing anything?" Dylan asked. She looked at him, ready to kill.

"How do we even know for sure that it was the Whitecoats who took her?" Sheen asked. Z looked at him for a moment, and then shock was all over her face.

"You don't think-" she started.

"It's possible," Sheen said. Z's eyes narrowed at that. "And we don't even know where he is either."

I was confused. Who where they talking about?

"I'm gonna kill him," I heard Alex say harshly. We all looked at him. He was in full rage mode. He stood up and faced Z. "Whatever happens, I'm with you in getting her back." Z smiled at him. She then looked at me. I covered my confusion and put my leader face on.

"We need to plan." I said. Her face gave it away. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince me otherwise.

"Okay. Fine. We plan."

**Me: *Reading over the chapter* Joey/Z**

**BW: Yup.**

**Me: …WTH?**

**BW: *Shrugs* I know you won't go there anyway.**

**Me: *Gears in brain starting to turn… crack!pairing inner-self starting to come up with ideas…* CRAP! BW! YOU GOT IDEAS IN MY HEAD AGAIN!**

**BW: Mwahahahahaha!**

**JK**

**Whew, that was the longest chapter you've gotten in a while, huh? And a cliffie! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Was it too confusing? Is there a way you know it could have been for-sure better? Why am I pretty much openly asking for flames? Is there anyone even reading this anymore? Idk. That's what a review is for! Come on, you know you want to… Luvs!**


	15. The Search is On

**Hey everyone, did you miss me? Well this is just me absolutely procrastinating my homework. But at least I'm getting something done. So, guess what happened? You know how I told you that BW and I were writing this separately, ahead of posting it? Well I'm here to tell you that we just finished it! Ok just kidding not quite, but there's like one more chapter to go then it's done! Not that it matters to you guys, seeing as you're only reading it as I post, not as we write it. But it's so weird to be finished with something, ya know? After this (and even right now) I'm going out towards other fandoms and posting in different archives, so I don't know when I'll ever come back to Maximum Ride… No matter, you guys still have a bunch more to go, because this stuff right here in these couple of chapters is the climax! (Well, duh.) So read and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't even really want to write one right now, and I heard a rumor that if you post a disclaimer on just the first chapter, you're good, but IDK…**

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

The night we got to Max's place I held up a strong façade. I didn't show I was hurting so badly. Even when Max's mom brought her up, I smiled and accepted her sympathy. We had met Dr. M and Ella once before. They seemed really nice, and I had wished that my family was still alive. When Dr. M and Ella saw Liz they instantly thought we were related. We introduced the boys and it went on from there.

While everyone sat and caught up, I snuck out the back and went for a late night flight. I had to have time to myself and go over the plan. I flew out towards the forest. I let the cold night air ruffle my wings. I took in deep breaths. The scent of pine and steaks filled my lungs. The scent of steaks reminded me of the other time Jess got kidnapped. Only, then it was her mother and she didn't mean any harm. But this was her dad, and as far as I know he's the most evil man alive. My blood boiled as I pictured his calm face as the Whitecoats took us and caged us. I wanted to punch his face in so badly. I wanted him to pay. If anything happens to Jess because of him I swear on my mother's grave I will kill him.

I flew straight up into the moon's light. I spread my wings wide, and as soon as I was satisfied with the altitude, I stopped flapping. I let myself fall. I closed my eyes and felt the air just rush past me. Falling is like letting go. Letting go of stress and drama. I let myself savor this moment, and then turned myself so I could start flapping again. I just free-flew. Letting me body take over my actions. It felt good.

Once I was done I landed on a nearby branch and just sat there, thinking. What are we going to do? How are we going to find Jess? Where do we even start? If it were the Whitecoats then we'd have to go to the school, the flock's nightmare. The flock…

"Max is right. I can't risk their lives. But, what if I went off on my own? What if I snuck out in the middle of the night? Nobody would notice until I'm long gone."

But then another thought came to me. Liz.

"I left her once and if I went away again she would be so hurt. She tried so hard to find me and now I'm leaving her. But she has DeSean. She'll be fine. But she won't have her sister she tried so hard to find… Listen to me! I'm arguing with myself. Only thing worse would be if I were saying it out loud."

"You are saying it out loud." I heard his voice. I narrowed my eyes and looked in his direction. On a nearby tree branch sat Sheen.

"What, are you stalking me now?" I asked.

"I was here first."

"Oh yeah? Since when?"

"You seriously didn't see me sitting here?"

"Was I supposed to? Besides, when I left you were still with everyone else."

"I got here while you were doing your fancy flying," he said. He was watching me?

"So you did follow me." I covered up my shock.

"No, actually, I didn't notice you snuck out. I came out for a breather."

"Why? What's got your knickers in a twist?"

He hesitated before answering, "I just got worked up."

"About what?" I asked. He looked away and cleared his throat.

"Dylan just got on my nerves," he said. I looked at him suspiciously.

"What did Dylan say?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing important," he answered. I wanted to know, but I'm not going to force him to tell me. I wouldn't want him doing that to me.  
I looked up at the sky. I stared at the stars, connecting them. I found a few constellations, but I wasn't really thinking about the stars. My mind was out there for Jess. I was hoping that somehow she could hear me.

"You love her," I heard Sheen say. I looked at him. "I mean, you're close to her. Closer than anybody else," he explained. I smiled.

"Jess and I have been each other's right hand girls since we met. I can't explain why, but I think we share a special bond. Like we were destined to meet each other, and that we aren't supposed to be apart. I don't know. She's like a sister to me. Almost like Liz, only I haven't known Liz as long as I have Jess," I tried explaining. But I don't think any of it made sense.

"Z, if I were taken away, would you try to get me back?" he asked.

I hesitated from shock- shock that an immediate yes popped into my head. But I wouldn't let him know that.

"Umm, yeah. You saved me, more than once, so I'll return the favor."

"You'd just do it to return a favor. Not 'cause you wanted to."

"If I didn't want to I would have said no."

"So besides returning the favor, why would you come after me?"

"What are you getting at?"

"I just want to know." He shrugged. I gave him a suspicious eye. He sighed. "I want to know that you have at least a little attraction to me," he confessed. I started to laugh. He looked at me, confused. "How is that funny?"

"Attraction to you? You want to know if I find you attractive?" I asked.

"Yes, because if you do, I know I'm not wasting my time with you." he said. I stopped laughing. Wasting his time?

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"I love you, Z. But I don't want to keep getting my hopes up that maybe you'd return my feelings and wind up picking up pieces of my own broken heart." I looked at him feeling hurt, but of course kept a straight face.

"Talk about deep poetry," I said. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm not kidding Z." He dropped his hand and looked defeated. "If it will make you feel better, I can stop."

"Stop what?" I asked.

"Forcing my feelings on you. I'll just be like the other guys in the flock. Just a friend and a family member. Nothing more."

I could feel my heart grow heavy, and my lungs lose air. _Is he breaking up with me?_ Wait, how can he break up something that was never formed? I didn't want him to stop loving me, but at the same time I didn't want him to waste his time either.

"Sheen, I'm sorry. I'm just not sure how I feel about you. My head says no, my heart is confused, and my body-" I paused, not wanting to say what it actually felt. "My body is confusing me."

"So, you don't want me to give up?" he asked, to clarify.

"Keep trying, I guess. One thing for sure is that when times are tough I need someone to lean on, and Jess and Liz have Alex and Sean. I guess I'll have you." He smiled at that. He then stood up and jumped over to my branch shaking it. I held on tight with surprise and fear.

"Are you suicidal?" I shouted. He just laughed. He then took me into his arms. Not expecting the move (although I should have), I stiffened.

"I love you," he whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

"I know," I said, and my body reacted on its own. My arms wrapped around him squeezing him, bringing him closer to me. I felt his body heat against mine. The scent of his skin was like the forest and earth.

We pulled apart and he smiled at me. I expanded my wings and he copied.

"I have a plan," I said. Well sort of. It's going to be a long shot but it's the only lead we have.

Jess' POV (By Me)

"Uhhhnnn..."

_Where am I? Am I vertical?_

"Meeph...meeph...meeph..."

_What's that noise? Oh my gosh, I AM vertical. Vertical, but…limp? How?_

"Meep...meep...meep..."

I tried to wake up, but my whole body is numb. _Z? Alex? Where are you? I'm so scared..._

"Beep...beep...beep..."

No... I know that sound... _The School._ My once-groggy brain suddenly races, weighing my options, working on an escape. I almost snap my eyes open, but then think against it. There were Whitecoats here; I could hear their muffled voices. I decided to let them think I was still asleep, that may increase my chances of escaping. But not knowing what was going on was also hindering it. My body was mostly numb, and I couldn't feel anything about where I was, or what was going on, so seeing might help.

Who else was here? Would it be worse for them to be trapped here with me, or for me to be here all alone? I didn't know. I was so afraid...

The voices get quieter and quieter, until it's silent. I wait for a few, unholy minutes, and then slowly, open my eyes to the bright lights, only to gasp with horror.

I'm in a tank.

A _TANK_.

I flail a little bit with shock and fear (wouldn't you?) but I can only move so much. I look down at my wrists to see that they were manacled to the sides of this glass cylinder from H- never mind. Other than that, I wasn't touching the sides at all. My body was suspended in the center of a semi-dense, blue-tinted liquid.

There were wires all over my body, keeping track of my heart rate, and breathing, and who knows what else. They were on my arms and legs, my chest, my neck, my back, my face-what on earth were they trying to keep track of with all these?

All I was wearing were some shorts, and a midriff tank top, exposing my stomach, or, more importantly, the ragged flesh that once was my stomach. Yet, it didn't particularly hurt, which may have been because of all the chemicals in this 'water'. To top it all off, there was an oxygen mask clamped firmly over my mouth and nose, which would explain why I could still breathe. It also meant screaming for help would be limited, if even possible. But who would I scream to? From the looks of it, it was after hours, so everyone has probably gone home. Besides, the Whitecoats didn't help people, they only hurt them. And if anyone was here that _would_ help me, they probably couldn't help me any more than I could help them.

I was on my own, for now.

I violently pulled at the restraints on my wrists, but they wouldn't give. I took a deep breath and prepared for plan B. B meaning Brute, as in Brute Force. I spread my wings, bracing them along the rounded sides, and then put my back against the glass. I raised my feet, pressing them against the opposite side, and pushed, straightening out my spine. When it didn't work, I pushed harder. And harder. And harder.

*_CRACK_*

I opened my eyes and saw the glass starting to break. Then, all of a sudden, it shattered, and I fell forward. Searing pain hit my stomach as I left the 'water'. One by one the wires popped off my wet skin, and all the monitors went crazy. I waited, but no one came running. So far, so good. I somehow found the strength to tear the mask off my face, then let myself fall limp, to rest for just a moment.

Moment over.

I began to drag myself-literally drag myself-out of there, slowly getting over the numbness in my limbs. I realize I'm leaving a trail of blood from my stomach. It occurred to me that being in that accursed tank may have been the only thing keeping me alive as of now. Oh well, if I die, I want to die trying. I want to be free. I get to the door, and am able to pull myself up and turn the knob, opening it. The hallway. I made it this far, and my strength is growing. I can make it. Half of my body is out in the hallway when another wave of pain hits my stomach, and I collapse, gasping for breath. I can't do this. I let out a single sob. Before I know it, there are footsteps on the tiled floor, approaching me from behind, and I want to die. I look up, expecting to see a Whitecoat, but instead I see someone else, someone completely unexpected.

"You didn't think they'd leave you all alone did you?" asked my dad, his tone almost teasing, almost kind. "I told them they shouldn't, I expected you to escape."

He picked me up with strong arms, and carried me down the hall. Not at all like how an Eraser, or even a Whitecoat, would carry me. Like a dad carrying his daughter to bed if she'd fallen asleep in the car. It was scary how close this situation was to that. My emotions were a whirlwind. _What was going on? How could this be happening? Why him?_ It would be so much easier to hate him if he acted like I imagined he should.

"They didn't listen, they didn't think you had any chance of getting out, but I knew better. You are my daughter, after all," he continued. "The only way someone would stay the night was if I did it myself." He sighed, and then brightened his tone by an almost undetectable degree. "You got out faster than I thought you would."

My thoughts were spinning, so fast it was almost painful. I felt nauseous, which wasn't helping my flesh wounds. A low, pitiful moan broke the silence. Oh wait, that was me. Dad doesn't react in any way, unless you count continuing to walk and carry me down the eerie hallway as reacting. We got to a door, which slid open by itself, and he carried me in and laid me down on the bed. Nicely. Looking around, if I didn't know better (and I did) then I'd think this was a hospital room. My vision started to get fuzzy so I concentrated on listening to where he was. It sounded as though he were getting some stuff out of the cupboards across the room. When he came back, he told me, "You'll have to sit up, you know; unless you want to bleed to death."

"What if I _do_ want to bleed to death?"

"You don't." He called my bluff. I sighed and tried to push myself up. He helped me, putting a hand on my upper back, between my wings, and pretty much held all my weight. There was cloth on my abdomen, and it became clear what he was trying to do. He was dressing my wound. _Helping me? After everything he's done?_ I pulled away the second he finished, falling back onto the bed in a not-so-graceful manner, and turned my head away from where he was standing. Again, he ignored it.

"This will only last a few days, you know," he informed me, walking back over to the door. Then he paused, keeping his back to me. "You know what'll happen to you once you're better again, what they'll do. I'm sure you've heard the war stories. So enjoy this while it lasts."

With that, he left, locking the door behind him.

He was right; I had heard the stories of what went on here. It was the flock's campfire horror stories. Nothing else scared us so easily. Bri had whispered to me pieces of her story, late at night. It made her feel a little better to share them with someone else, to get their weight off her shoulders.

I'd heard the stories, and now I'd live them. 

Alex's POV (By Me)

I woke with a jolt, once again, in the cold winter air. But that wasn't what woke me up, oh no, no, that wasn't nearly a problem now. It was the nightmares. They were all the same: Jess, bleeding; Jess, being tortured; Jess, dead. I kept seeing her body, lying on a cold metal table, skin as white as the snow outside, and still as, well, death. Beautiful dark brown curls spilled around her almost artfully. She always looked peaceful, maybe even angelic. Except for all the blood.

This was what I couldn't stand, the not knowing. Sure, we had a plan, but I couldn't wait that long. Tomorrow morning, we would fly to her home, and see how her mom and Joseph could help us. If they knew where her dad was, maybe we could find her, too. It was a long shot, because something told me her dad wasn't the type to tell his family he was going to go out to hunt down his daughter. But it was our only chance.

There was a small sniffling close to me, and I looked down to see Bri, awake, and crying. She was so small, alone, and afraid. I held out my arm, offering a hug. She jumped into my arms, accepting the friendship, and buried her face in my chest, sobbing. I held her close and rubbed her back, making a promise. I would never let anything happen to her. Not just for Jess, either. I loved Bri, and wanted nothing to happen to her. She'd gone through too much all ready. She seemed kind of broken to me, like an abused puppy. Even if she wouldn't talk to me, I decided that I would protect her.

She fell asleep like that, lying on my chest. I looked down at her, and was suddenly, painfully, reminded of Jess. Not the dead Jess from my nightmares, but the real one. The one who lived, breathed, laughed, smiled... I missed her so much. I could see her asleep on my chest, after that night we kissed, as if it had just happened. I could still _feel_ her- her lips, her hands, her hair, her wings, even her heartbeat.

Don't worry, Jess, I'm coming. Nothing will happen to you. I will get you home if it kills me.

**Ok, bit of a filler chapter? I don't know, it didn't seem so at the time but now that I've read it all over again… So in other news, I fell again. I mean, I literally fall all the time, but last night I was playing the Spinning Game. You look up, spin in a circle, and when someone eventually says go, and you stop spinning and just run as long as you can. First one to fall loses, and those who didn't fall first move on to the next round. I was running, and I saw this stack of chairs. I think, hey, I don't want to run into chairs, so I tried to run right. But my feet continued to go left. I hit the chairs and the next thing I know I can see the next person falling to the ground across the room. So I totally lost but that was the most fun game EVER. XD Even better to watch, cuz they all look flat-out drunk. Anyway, bruises aside, please review!**


	16. Plans

**Hey hey hey! Phew, long week :P SCHOOL PLEASE END! Meanwhile… Here's the next chapter, getting intense! Meh, I gots nothin' to say, so just read…**

**Disclaimer: BW and I do own a surprising amount of characters here, seeing as how OC it is, but none of the originals. OH! I almost forgot; remember Joey's 'special skills'? Well he's gonna use them starting now! Originally wasn't going to go there, but it was needed. So this is just me veering away from his comic book self, cuz in THAT universe, his powers didn't show up until he was around his late teens. But in the cartoon, he was only like 14-15, and his powers seemed totally mastered. So, we just went for it. Also, we had to bend the rules, because- Well don't worry about it. This isn't EXACTLY how his powers work, but this is what we did with them. Guess I did have something to say after all, huh?**

Max's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

We waited until mom, Total, and Akila went to work, and Ella went back to school. We all agreed to go to Jess' mom's place. When we got to the house, Z didn't hesitate with knocking. Joey opened the door and his eyes went wide with surprise.

"He wants to know what we're doing here," Angel said.

"It's about Jess," Z said. He instantly led us inside. We all stood there, not knowing how to break the news.

"Where's Adeline?" Liz asked. He signed.

"At work," Angel translated.

"I was hoping she'd be here…" Z said.

"She'll be home soon. Why what happened?" Angel translated for Joey.

"You might want to sit down…" Sheen offered. We all sat down.

"Jess was...umm...taken," Z said. Joey's big eyes went wide again, with horror. "We were attacked. I don't know what happened. The next thing I know, she's gone."

"I was with her," Alex said. "It's my fault that they got her. They knocked me out or something. She was bleeding and I tried to heal her, but then I woke up and she was gone." His fist clenched.

"How many times to I have to tell you, it's not your fault. Now get that through your head before I send a fire ball up your-!"

"Z," Sheen stopped her from swearing in front of the young ones. Z shut her mouth, muttering to herself.

"Joey wants to know who took her," Angel said. Our attention went back to Joey. Poor guy, first his sister is forced to leave and now he finds out that she's missing.

"We aren't sure, but we think that-" Sheen started.

"Your dad took her," Z interrupted. I gave her a cold stare, but it was wasted. She was staring out the window, pain and sorrow written across her face. I looked back at Joseph.

"What she _means_, is he more-than-likely helped. The School was involved, because there were Whitecoats, Erasers and Flyboys all over the place," I explained.

"Wait, slow down," Angel said to Joey. He just shook his head to himself, with a hint at frustration.

"What is he trying to say? I can't understand him. How can we make this easier? Anyone got a pen or paper?" Nudge asked. Everyone looked at her blankly. She sighed and turned back to Joey, only to find that he was staring at her. She stared back, not knowing what else to do. Joseph had this serious look on his face, eye-to-eye with Nudge. Without warning, the whites of his eyes faded to black, and his body started to become see-through. As if that weren't freaky enough, the shadow of his body moved forward, disappearing inside Nudge.

"Nudge?" I asked, trying not to have a panic attack. She blinked and faced me. Her normally brown eyes had become the exact shade of green as Joey's.

"Sorry, I had to use her voice. Please forgive me, and please don't freak out," Nudge said. We just stared at her. She kept talking. "Let me explain. I, Joseph, have taken over Nudge's body, so that I could use her voice, without the misunderstandings." Nudge said, or Joey said. My mind was everywhere.

"Joseph? This is what you meant by your power?" Z asked.

"Yes."

"Cool," DeSean said with a grin.

"Wait, what? What's going on? The blind kid always gets left out," Iggy complained.

"Joseph just possessed Nudge," Gazzy said.

"What?" Iggy asked.

"I'm sorry, but it's the only way I can talk to you, without all the confusion," Nudge/Joey said.

"Too late for that, dude," Dylan said.

"Let's get back to the situation here," Z said with impatience. "Joseph, what can you tell us about your dad's work?"

I saw Joey/Nudge hesitate a little bit, but then he spoke. "It's a long story. He and my mom used to be in the army together, and eventually he volunteered for a research program. They were trying to make the ultimate soldier, or something, with enhanced strength, agility, healing, and all that. Something went wrong and I think he almost died. So he came home, and when he tried to get back in, they rejected him. Without the army, he had nothing. So then they had me, and that's where I get my powers. That's also where he got all of his abilities. Like enhanced senses, strength, agility… get my drift?"

"So it did work, after all…" mused Sheen. I was still trying to figure out why _anyone_ would voluntarily be experimented on.

"Yeah," Joseph/Nudge continued. "After that, he kept going on hunting trips in Africa. It made him feel whole again. Problem was, it was a big fat lie. He because a mercenary. Best there was. He was called Deathstroke."

"Wait, what's a mercenary?" Gazzy asked.

"A hired assassin," said Fang blankly.

"Figures, if he really is the evil bastard we think he is," Iggy said. Fang shook his head. I looked at him and knew he was just as confused as we are.

"Bri needs the bathroom," Alex said. We all looked at her and she was doing a little dance, standing still.

"Down the hall first door to the left," Nudge/Joey said.

Alex led her to the bathroom. _Cute little tyke,_ I thought.

"Why don't you go to school Joey?" Angel suddenly asked.

"I'm on winter break," Nudge/Joey answered.

"Way to keep up with the topic Angel," Iggy said. She stuck her tongue at him.

"I'm sticking my tongue out at you, Igg," she said.

"You know, it would hurt more if I actually saw it," he retorted.

"When will Adeline get back?" Z asked, ignoring them. "Jess isn't going to survive that long. Who knows what they could be doing to her?" I watched her. She was getting anxious, and really worried. It made me think of that first time Angel was kidnapped.

"She'll be home soon, and I know exactly how you feel, Z," Nudge/Joey said.

"NO, I DONT THINK YOU DO!" she exploded at him. She turned to look at Nudge. "You have _no idea _what I'm feeling! Nobody does! You haven't _known_ her as long as I have! You don't know how close we are! You have no _clue_!" She raised her fist to punch him, out of control. We all stood up to stop her, but Sheen beat us to it. He grabbed her fist and spun her around so that she was facing him.

"Z, you need to calm down," he said forcefully. She then turned all her frustration on him. She started to beat on him, pounding his chest repeatedly, screaming over and over.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Then she stopped, and was breathing hard.

"You done?" Sheen asked.

"What's going on?" Alex asked, walking back in with Bri.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Z choked out, and ran towards the bathroom, covering her mouth. Liz and Sheen went in after her.

"Now can I ask what's going on?" Iggy asked. Dylan and Gazzy started to explain, while I turned back to Nudge/Joseph. He/she hadn't even flinched.

"Don't take it to heart Joey. She can be a real drama queen at times," I said.

"You mean all the time," Fang said. I gave him one of my cold stares. He cleared his throat. Of all times, he chooses to speak now.

"Max!" Angel suddenly screamed. I looked at her.

"Max, Fang. You might want to see this," Dylan said with panic creeping into his voice. He was looking out the window. Fang and I walked over and looked. A woman who looked a lot like Jess was trying to get rid of a tall man in a blue suit and glasses. She was obviously yelling at him, but we couldn't hear what she was saying to him. She came towards the door. We all came away from the window. The door opened and the older-looking Jess closed the door and turned around. When she got a look at us, you could tell she was on high alert.

"Adeline!" Liz cried and ran into her arms.

"Liz? What are you doing here? What's going on? Where's Z and Jess?" she asked.

"Mom we have some bad news," Nudge/Joey said.

"Joseph, get out of that poor girl's body," she ordered.

"Sorry," he said. Transparent again, Joseph came back out of Nudge's body. Dazed, Nudge almost fell over but grabbed onto his shoulder for balance.

"What just happened?" Nudge asked, blinking her brown-again eyes. "Who's she? Whoa! She looks just like Jess, but without the freckles!" Yup, Nudge is back.

"Adeline?" I heard Z's voice from the hall. We all looked at her. She didn't look good. Adeline rushed over to her.

"Lay down. Joey, go get me a cold, damp, towel," she said. Z didn't understand why she was lying down, but she didn't argue.

"What's happening?" Iggy asked. I could hear Gazzy and Dylan explain again.

"Joey!" Adeline called for him. He came back out of the kitchen and handed her the towel. "Get me a bowl of water," she ordered. Joey went back to the kitchen.

"What's wrong with her?" DeSean asked.

"She's a fire-user isn't she? She's burning herself up in the inside. She's stressing herself out," Adeline explained.

"What?" Sheen asked.

"Is she going to die?" Angel asked.

"If she lives through this, then she'll be more powerful than before," Adeline said, dodging the question skillfully.

"What if I _don't_ live through this?" Z asked.

"I have no doubt that you won't make it; you're strong." Joey came back in with a bowl of water. Adeline handed Sheen the towel.

"Keep this on her, and damp," she instructed. She got up and motioned for Joey, Liz and me to the kitchen. "What's happened?" she asked.

"Jess was taken, and we think her father helped take her," Liz said. Adeline's face turned pale, and her hand shot up to her chest.

"Oh my dear God!" she exclaimed.

"We need to find out where your husband is," I said.

"I have no idea where he could have gone," she said. I sighed, well this gets us nowhere. "But, this man came up to me just now. He asked when my husband's project will be done," she added.

"That project, could it be about-" I didn't finish. We were all thinking the same thing.

"WE HAVE TO SAVE HER!" Liz shouted.

"We will," I promised.

"ADELNE! MAX!" Nudge burst into the kitchen. "Something is wrong with Z. She's flailing all over the place. They guys are trying to hold her down. Oh my God! I think she's dying!" We all rushed back into the living room. As Nudge said, Z was flailing all over the place. It looked like she was having a seizure. Fang, Dylan, Sheen, DeSean, and Alex were trying to hold her down.

"Z!" Liz cried.

"Keep her back," Adeline ordered. I grabbed Liz before she was out of my reach. Adeline went over to the boys. She got a hold of Z's face. "Z, calm down! Z, listen to me," Adeline said. But then Z stopped moving all at once. She looked lifeless.

"NO!" Liz shouted. She buried her face into my stomach, sobbing.

"She can't be-she's not-" Sheen started to say, but couldn't finish.

"I'm sorry man," DeSean said. We all stood there looking at Z's lifeless body. Bri, Angel, Nudge, and especially Liz started to sob their eyes out. Everyone stood in silence. Z's gone. 

Jess' POV (By Me)

Can I just tell you, how bad this place sucks? Oh, and electricity hurts. Bad. So here I was, alone in a white room, strapped down to a white table, School style. All over my skin were some kind of electrodes or something. They kept showing pictures of the people I love. The Flock, Liz, DeSean, Sheen and Z, my mom, Joey, and my Alex. Over and over, endlessly. With every picture, they asked me, "Do you know this person?"

"No," I always said. And every time I said no, they shocked me. At first, I could handle it. I showed no reaction, no pain. I stiffened, and then went back to normal as soon as it was over, seemingly unharmed. Problem was, with each repeating round of pictures, it got worse. The voltage was higher, and it lasted longer. Man it hurt, I couldn't handle it much longer, but I couldn't betray my friends, either. Pretty soon, I couldn't keep my muscles from spazzing out, no matter how hard I tensed them. My body jerked around on the table, electricity running through my veins instead of blood, it seemed. When it finished, I would unclamp my jaw to gasp for breath, and I could only shake, worse than I ever have before. I knew my dad was watching, he was still here, and probably would be until I died.

I hated him.

On the next lovely level of shock treatments, I could no longer hold back the screaming. The electricity was on for a whole thirty seconds, and I screamed through it all. I was done being brave, but I still wouldn't say yes. I loved them, my friends and my family, and I would die for them. No, I was _about_ to die for them. Next round, it started to tingle, more than hurt. It kind of...tickled. So I quit screaming. I only lay there, calmly, staring into space. So then, seeing that it no longer hurt, they turned it up. And I think they changed the pictures, too. I mean, they were the very exact same ones, but the people in them were no longer familiar to me. For some reason, that was funny. These people, who claimed to know so much, were being so _stupid_. So I laughed, really laughed. Then the electricity tickled even more, almost unbearably, and that made me laugh harder. If I wasn't lying down, I would throw my head back, I was laughing so hard. It went on for so long, the lights were flickering. I laughed harder. I'm sure to them, it sounded insane, but to me, in my little world, it made perfect sense. I didn't hurt anymore, no matter how much they electrocuted me. It just sort of tingled, vibrated kind of, to the point where it tickled.

Eventually, they stopped. Without the volts of electricity coursing through me, I had no energy, so I quit laughing. I could feel my body, but it wasn't really mine anymore. I couldn't move it. But I didn't really care. I just laid and stared blankly at the ceiling again, only this time, not all the lights were on upstairs, if you know what I mean. I was checked out. What's this called? Oh yeah, brain dead. I'm brain dead. I think. I was alive, but unresponsive in any way. Almost like I WAS dead. I could almost laugh about that. A bunch of people in white coats came up to me. Who are these people? Wait, where am I? I forgot. They keep shining lights into my eyes and poking and prodding me all over. They ask me questions, and I answer, but it won't come out of my mouth. It's stuck in my head. It frustrates me, but no one knows how I feel, because I'm stuck in my head, too. On the inside, I'm a torrent of emotions, but on the outside, I'm a vegetable. Soon, I'm rolled into another room, and they just leave me there to stare at the ceiling some more, turning the lights off behind them. Just a moment later, someone else comes in, but I can't turn my head to see who they are. More frustration. They walk into my view, right to the side of my bed. It's a man, not in a coat. I don't recognize him, but a small part if my brain insists that I do. I don't know this man, but apparently he knew me, because he began talking to me.

"Jess? Jess? I know you can hear me." He sounded sad, no, regretful. I wondered what was wrong. Was that my name? Jess? It just occurred to me that I don't know my own name. I wonder what else I don't know. He kept trying to get me to respond, even though it seemed that he already knew I couldn't. After a time (not sure how long, I've now lost my sense of time), he stopped, and left, saying, "What did I do?"

Max's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

We all stood in silence, except for the sounds of the girls' sobs. I stared down at Z's lifeless body. She looked pale, and like the bride of death. Sheen bent down to her. He brushed some of her hair out her face, looking down at her unbelievingly.

"Z. Please. You can't be gone…" he whispered.

"Come on man. She's gone," DeSean pulled him back. Z lay on the couch, eyes closed.

"I'm sorry," Adeline said. Tears ran down on her face.

"So now what? Z can't be dead. She can't," Iggy said. I looked over at him. His head in his hands, his breathing heavy. I felt bad for him. Z was like his beat gal pal. She was almost like Iggy in a way, only with more fire. Sarcastic, not so much on the cooking, and a great friend to us all.

"He's going to pay," Sheen said. I turned to him. He was looking down at Z's body. Determination crossed his face. "I swear, for both Z and Jess. I _will_ make him pay."

More silence as we all stared down at her body. Suddenly her body convulsed and an ear suffering scream came out of her. We all looked at her, shocked. Z laid there breathing hard and looking around.

"Z!" Sheen and Liz shouted. Everyone started to shout and cheer, but Z didn't look so happy. She looked at me, confusion and fear in her eyes.

"What is it?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I just saw Jess," she said. I stared at her, wide-eyed. Then, out of nowhere she burst into tears. Sheen knelt down and wrapped his arms around her. She cried into his chest, while the rest of us looked at her in confusion. She saw Jess? Everyone stared at her unbelievingly. She looked confused, concerned, and I could just tell she was thinking of a plan. You could literally see the wheels turning in her head.

"What?" Liz asked.

"I saw Jess," she repeated.

"How is that even possible?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know. I just know I saw Jess." Everyone just looked at her. She looked back, scanning our faces. "Don't you believe me?" No one said anything. I could only bite my lip. I felt bad, but I couldn't say I believed her. How do I know it wasn't some dream, or that what she saw was real? As if she could read my mind she explained what she saw.

"I saw Jess. She was in a blank white room. She was by herself, and she was in pain. I know. I could feel it. It was like I was her, only, watching her," she insisted, looking at all our faces. None of us looked as though we believed her. She shook her head. "You guys don't believe me."

"It's not that we don't believe you," Fang said, "It just doesn't make sense. How, out of all of us, did you have a vision about her?" She gave him a dark look.

"Why do I have to keep repeating myself?" she asked. "I'm the only one here who truly knows Jess; the only one with a close bond. It makes sense that she and I would have visions about each other in times like these."

"But how?" Iggy asked. "You're not a mind reader or a telepath. You don't have any powers like that."

"I know, but I also know that this wasn't some dream I had! I know this was real!"

"How do you know it's real?" I asked. She looked at me seriously.

"You've always told me to follow my gut. Well right now, my gut is telling me that what I just saw of Jess is real, and it's going to get worse," she said. My jaw clenched together. I had told her that, only a million times had I told her that. How am I supposed to take it back now?

"Jess is in trouble," Z concluded.

Nobody said any more. We all just stood there looking at her. She looked over us once more, shaking her head disbelieving.

"You still don't believe me," she said. A hard, set expression came across her face. She then stood up, stumbling a little. Sheen caught a hold of her arm, but she pulled it back, giving him a cold hard glare. Then she walked out the front door. I had expected her to fly off, but her wings never came. She just walked down the sidewalk.

"Where is she going?" Adeline asked.

"I don't even think she knows where she's going," Angel answered.

"Let her blow off some steam. I'll know if she takes off," DeSean said. We nodded in agreement and waited for Z to come back.

**So there you go. Any confusion? Anyways, sorry it took a little while; I've been out all day. So that's Jess, with no memories at all. She's basically not even in there. I tried to get that part right in the writing, but how did I do? Will she stay like that? Dunno… JK, I do, I wrote it. But I'm not telling. See you next week! Please review!**


	17. Rescue?

**Alright, this would be the climax of the story. At least the way I see it. A LOT is going in this chapter, so the POV switches around a bunch again, and there's a bit of backtracking (as usual). Sorry if it annoys you, but I just needed the different views to cover everything going on. Not all are strictly necessary for the plot, but they are needed to help establish different character's thoughts, to really give them some more character development. True, it's coming up towards the end of the story, so characters are pretty much fully-formed, but trust me, for the full effect of the story, all the POVs are needed. Skip some, if you want, but you'll miss out.**

**Disclaimer: I think disclaimers are never necessary. I mean, no one can go around saying, yeah I totally made these characters up and all that cuz I actually wrote the Maximum Ride books (or whatever you're writing). NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE YOU. EVER. Obviously JP wrote the MR books, just like Marv Wolfman and George Perez (sp?) created the Wilsons (minus Jess). Well, at least Joseph; Adeline and her wonderful husband may have been a more group effort with other people. I don't know, I unfortunately wasn't there. So, story time!**

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I walked out of the house, pissed as hell. I can't believe they won't believe me! Have I ever lied to them before? Well, I haven't exactly told them the truth on a few things, but I have never actually lied to them. But still! I know what I saw of Jess is real. I know she's in trouble. I have a feeling that she's going to get worse if I didn't do something. But what can I do? I have no flipping clue as to where to start looking for her! Let alone actually get her back. I don't know what to do. I feel so useless, and pissed. I walked faster to get further away from the house. I looked up to find I had walked into a park. It was empty, kids still at school. I went over and sat on a swing. I watched as the wind blew through the trees, bending the branches and rustling the leaves. I breathed in the air, filling my lungs with the scent of sand and trees. It helped me calm down a little. But I was still thinking of Jess. She was lying so still on that table. What had they done to her? What could I do to help? She looked so helpless, so lifeless. I could feel tears start to swell up in my eyes. I quickly wiped them away. I will show no weakness. I haven't cried when things have gone bad before. I won't start now. Not when Jess needs me to be strong, for the both of us. Jess is like my sister, and like a sister, I have sworn to protect her no matter what. I made that promise with Liz a long time ago, and I have kept that promise. Now it's time to keep that promise to Jess. I stood up from the swing and walked toward the clearing that we had played at. If I'm lucky, they'll be there. The sun was shining brightly and most of the snow gad melted. I finally got there and saw that the snow here was gone. I looked to the sky. Hopefully they'd be awake, seeing as most of their kind are nocturnal. I gave out a loud whistle, and waited.

A couple minutes later I whistled again. Then I heard wings start to flutter. I looked up at the trees. Then I heard them whistle back. Our owls. I whistled again, giving them the one for Jess. Hopefully this will work. They'd find her for me. They whistled back and flew off. I smiled, hoping that this will work and I can save Jess.

I went back to the house to get Joseph, Alex, and Sheen. The only three I know for sure will help me. Alex and Joseph would go because they loved her, and Sheen would because this guy seemed like he would do anything for me. When I got there I was pulled tightly into the arms of Adeline. I looked up at her, confused. She smiled down at me.

"You're safe," she said.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I asked. Max looked at me, relived.

"Erasers. They're here." she said. Well great.

Joseph's POV (By Me)

Z stormed out of the house, door slamming shut behind her, hard. We all flinched with it, and then stood in silence for a moment.

"Well," said Dylan, "that could've gone better."

Max punched him.

A small 'discussion' ensued, so I quietly (ha-ha. I'm mute) stepped out back for some air. It was still in the early afternoon, though after today's events it felt like it should be much later. Maybe it should even be a new day, by now. I felt really cold, but not because of the weather. I'd felt this way since they told me Jess was gone. Even before that, it had made me nervous to think of her, of all of them, out on their own. I knew, as much as anyone, that I had no reason to worry about them, but I couldn't help it. And who was to blame for all of this? Dad. It was always dad. True, he hadn't let anyone stick wings on her so she could destroy the world, but he had let them take her back. No, he'd _given_ her to them. He was probably there now, watching them torture her. He made me sick. He was the reason I couldn't speak anymore, the reason I had these powers. I could hardly look anyone in the eye anymore because of these powers.

"Joseph?"

I almost jumped; I hadn't been expecting anyone else to come out here. I turned around to see that it was Alex.

"Sorry, thought no one else was out here. I'll go if you want."

I shook my head and gestured for him to come and sit by me. Misery loves company, right?

"Didn't even really notice you were gone, you know? You're so quiet-Aw man, sorry that was a really stupid thing to say, I'm really sorry about that-"

I lightly hit him in the arm to get him to stop. It was fine, really. He hadn't meant anything by it.  
He continued, "Guess I really can't think. I'm so stupid sometimes. All the time, really."

I shook my head.

"Don't try to tell me I'm not stupid. I know I am. It's my fault she's gone. How can you not be mad at me for that?"

I picked up a stick and wrote in the dirt: _It's not your fault. I am mad, but not at you._

"Alright then, that's your choice," he said with a sad shrug. There was a pause, and then he asked, "Do you believe Z?"

I nodded. True, it didn't make complete sense that she saw it, of all people, but I knew Jess trusted Z. So I did too. Plus, Z would never lie, especially about something like this. If she says she saw Jess was being tortured somehow, then she was. No matter how disturbing that thought was.

"Good, I do too. We have to go with Z to get her back, soon. We're running out of time."  
I nodded. Nothing would stop me from going with them to save her, not even the fact that I couldn't fly. Both of us were glad that we weren't the only ones to feel this way.

"Do you think Z will be back soon? Because-"

Alex was cut off by a loud, vicious, snarl. Suddenly, there were Erasers everywhere. Alex and I couldn't even respond at first, we just stood there. Then, at the same time, we bolted. But it was too late. A clawed hand snatched my ankle, and I hit the ground, being dragged a few inches in the process. Even as my back hit the dirt (knocking all the air out of me), Alex had his arms wrapped under mine, and was pulling me out of its grasp, though it wasn't enough. Its claws piercing my skin, I twisted my foot partly out of his grasp, resulting in a popping noise and dull, sudden, pain in my ankle. When he'd almost let go, I kicked him in the jaw, which caused my bone to make a cracking noise this time, and new, sharper pain shooting up my leg. The Eraser howled in pain when my shoe broke his nose, and he let go of me to clasp both claws over his bleeding muzzle. Alex dragged me up and I hissed in pain as I put weight on my foot, while we ran from the remaining Erasers. As we got to the door, it burst open. Everyone must have heard the commotion. We were grabbed and pulled inside, and they shut the door behind us, already barring it against the monsters. Immediately, the mutated monsters started banging against the door from the outside.

"Joseph your ankle, what happened?" Mom began to freak, the way she did best.

I took a seat at the table to take the weight off of it, and signed, _I'm alright mom, it's just some scratches._

"Just some scratches? Look at it!" She pointed to it accusingly. True, my foot was twisted at a slightly odd angle, but it didn't hurt THAT bad...

_I'm alright, mom, really._

Just then, the front door opened, but instead of Erasers, it was Z. Mom immediately swept her up in a big hug. "You're safe."

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Z asked.

"Erasers," Max said. "They're here."

"Well, great!" exclaimed Z. When she saw our expressions she asked, "Did I say that out loud?" We all nodded. Just then, there was another particularly loud bang on the door, but it was shut tight. After what happened to me when I was five, mom took no chances when it came to security. Z spoke up again, "Look, you guys, I'm really sorry, but I have to go get Jess, Erasers or not. It's really selfish but we're almost out of time. Something's really, really wrong."

"It's ok, Z, we can go save Jess, all of us," Nudge volunteered.

"Ok, bad idea," said Iggy. "We can't all just up and leave with all these Erasers around. This isn't like our usual homes."

"He's right," Max said, "we can't just leave Adeline and Joseph here like that. Even if they could fight off all of the Erasers by themselves. We need another plan."

"When I said I wanted to go save Jess, I didn't mean all of us," said Z. "But I didn't mean on my own, either. I want Sheen, Alex and Joey to come with me. Everyone else can stay here to help Adeline."

"Wait, Joey can't go, he broke his ankle. Besides, I don't want him going off like-"

I held up my hand, interrupting her. _Mom, I __**have**__ to go. My ankle will be fine because I'll have to body-jump someone anyway. No wings, remember? Besides, I have a theory. Since Z and I are closest to Jess, if I take her over, then together, we can find her._

Angel translated for me, and Z agreed. "If it helps find Jess, I'll do anything. Adeline, I really think we'll need him with us. Please?" Mom thought about it for a moment, covering her face with her hands. She dropped her hands when she'd decided.

"Oh, alright. But I don't really like it. What if-?" She was stopped by another crash from outside, followed by the sound of the splintering wood of the door. "Hurry!" she shouted. Z and I turned to each other, at the same time, and within seconds I was in control.

"Upstairs!" Sheen shouted, and he, Alex and I (in Z's body, of course) ran up the stairs. We burst into the room that Z, Jess and Liz had shared, and rushed to the window.

"Wait!" came a cry in a voice I didn't know. We turned to see...Bri? "Please, I want to come, too!" She was nearly frantic, obviously. She'd never said a single word before, out loud, for everyone to hear. It made sense, she'd already lost Jess, and now she was losing Alex. They were her only real family

Alex got down to her level, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Bri, you can't come, it's too dangerous for you. I don't want you get hurt. Remember how bad the School was? That's why we have to go get her back. And I don't even want to chance having you trapped there again."  
Bri sniffled and said something so quiet that only Alex heard. He ran his fingers through her hair comfortingly and continued, "I know you miss Jess, and you love her. She loves you too, and would want you safe. Don't worry, we'll bring her back, I promise." Bri wrapped her skinny arms around his neck and hugged him, really tight, while he hugged her back. In Z's mind, a few memories popped up, showing Fang, even Iggy, doing the same sort of things with Angel. Alex straightened up, "Go downstairs, Bri, and be good. We'll be back soon, I promise."

With that, we all jumped out the window.

_Ok, Joey, where we headed?_ Z's voice asked inside our shared mind.

Actually, I wasn't sure. I'd guessed that the best thing we could do was just reach out and search for Jess with said combined mind.

_Sounds good enough._ Then Z started to look for Jess, using her part of our mind, and I followed suit. Eventually, we started to see something, like a pinpoint of light at the end of a tunnel. Curious, we pressed it slightly. Suddenly a bunch of images are thrown at us, rapid-fire-fast. With it comes white-hot pain, all over her body, like a migraine on steroids put together with being shot with a rifle, up close. We careened towards the earth, neither of us able to hold her body up.

"Z!"

"Joseph!"

Two other pairs of arms caught hold of hers, but her body was totally limp. We were losing consciousness, and I knew I had to get out of her body. It could be dangerous for me to still be in someone's body while they became unconscious. It was possible that I could actually get stuck, and be lost in their mind forever. But I couldn't just get out of her body, thousands of feet up in the air. So there was nothing I could do as everything faded to black.

Alex's POV (By Me)

Z slept all night, with Joseph still in her body. Sheen and I sat up and waited, the entire time. It wasn't until the first rays of sunshine appeared that she stirred, her eyelids fluttering. Sheen was at her side in a second, waiting anxiously for her to wake up. Her grey eyes opened and she said, "Sheen, get out of my face!"

He quickly jumped back while I realized something. "Z? Is that...you?"

She scoffed. "Of course it's me, who else..." she trailed off, becoming pale at the realization. "Oh my gosh we lost Joey!"

"Z you have to find him!" said Sheen.

"Well DUH!" she shouted back. "Now shut up so I can concentrate!" She closed her eyes and sat very still. We waited and waited, the minutes dragging on. This was more antagonizing than last night had been. I seriously felt like I might have a heart attack. If we lost her brother, Jess would never forgive-

Z's eyes popped open, only now they were bright green, like they should be while Joseph was in there.

"I'm here," he said with Z's voice.

"We can see that," Sheen said. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm," Joseph answered, totally straight-faced. I laughed, but then they both looked at me, and I had to cover it up with a cough.

"So, Uh, where's Jess?" I ask, getting back to the matter at hand.

Joseph cocked Z's head, remembering, and then pointed. "That way." He stood up, spreading Z's wings wide.

"Wait," said Sheen, and we both turned to him. "Maybe keeping Joey in Z's body isn't the best idea. Z's had moments like, like that, before, and I think Joseph being in there with her isn't helping much, given the situation."

"Fair enough," said Joey/Z. "But I still can't fly, so your body or Alex's?"

"You can take mine," I volunteer. "Then when we get there, we can split up, Sheen with Z and Joseph with me."

"Sound's good," said Sheen.

"Alright, then," agreed Joseph/Z. Then he-no she-no- never mind- walked over to me, and Joseph ghosted into my body. As Z regained control, she began to lose balance. But Joey was already on top of it, using my arms to reach out and grab her before she fell. It was really weird to see my arms do something that I wasn't in control of.

_You get used to it,_ said Joey's voice in my head as he let go of Z and spread my wings. At least I assume it was his voice, I've never heard it before.

"It's about an hour away, let's hurry," my voice came out of my mouth. Yeah, still weird.

Jess' POV (By Me)

I knew who I was again. It happened this morning, after a long, sleepless night. The window was open (I knew because I could feel a wintry breeze) and I heard the soft fluttering of wings. Then there was a whistling, like a bird. At first, it meant nothing to me, just that there was a bird in the window. But then, a memory rushes at me. The last time I heard those five notes... I was standing alone, at the entrance to a cave. The melody means something... It means that they're safe. But who are they? And what were they in danger from? But then I remember something else, the person we were running from... It's the other man, who isn't a Whitecoat! The one who called me Jess! My heart-rate quickens to think that it's his fault I'm here. Then I remember one last thing, a voice. It whispers, "You were made to destroy the world."

My fists tighten- my first movement in twelve hours. They want me to destroy the world? Fine. But they're first. I angrily twist my wrists against the restraints, and pull my whole body as much off the bed as it will go. More feathers flutter, and the bird (an owl, I see) starts pecking at the strap on one wrist. It misses a few times, and I can see my skin breaking. The funny thing is, nothing hurts any more. It all... Tickles.

The strap breaks and my arm shoots up, causing the owl to fly away screeching. I tear off the rest of the restraints, jumping off the bed onto the floor, just as Whitecoats burst in. _Took them long enough… _This'll be fun. I grab an IV stand and break it in half with only my hands, and just start attacking. They ran like little girls, and it makes me laugh. After that, everything blurs, into one big fight. Eraser after Eraser comes at me, and I just let loose. Everything I'd been made for, all that had been programmed into me, was coming true. They wanted me to be the definition of destruction? Well now I was. All it took was them taking away my humanity. Only now, they couldn't control me. For them, I was either too nice to hurt anyone, but could be manipulated by pain, or I could be like this. Killing anyone who came at me, unable to feel pain, and impossible to contain. One or the other. Black or white. No grey areas.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" I shouted into the empty space around me, to anyone who could hear. I'd long since made my way through the School, fighting. I laugh. "Isn't this what you made me for? Don't you want me to destroy everything? Or is it too much to handle?" I swung out my arm, stabbing the broken stand far into the wall. There was a sort of buzzing noise, and a new pack of playmates were released. I grinned in anticipation. These Erasers' only goal was to kill me, I could see. I guess I WAS too much to handle. Most Erasers had some form of twisted personality, and would try to taunt you. These seemed more animal than human. They circled around me snapping their jaws. I just stood there calmly, waiting. Then they all lunged, and for a moment, I was buried under all of them, in a seemingly hopeless situation. But I fought back, out for blood. Even with teeth, claws, and sheer muscle, they couldn't get anywhere with it if I didn't feel pain.

One dug its teeth into my arm, expecting me to cry out in pain, I suppose. I just laughed. Surprised, the Eraser dug its teeth in even harder, but I was bored now. I got my feet underneath it, and kicked it off with all my adrenaline-pumped bird kid strength. By now, all of them were rather freaked out by me. Their animal instincts told them that when they bit or scratched something, it screamed in pain, giving up, and they won. But I was unnatural. I never screamed, I enjoyed the pain. They edged away from me, still growling and stuff, but I saw that they wanted nothing more to do with me. I just plain freaked them out.

"What else do you have? I'm not done," I called out into the empty space again.

"Jess," came a voice. I turned, and there he was. The other man. "They're all gone. Dead, or ran away. It's just us."

I grabbed the stand and yanked it back out of the wall with a twisted grin. "Then fight me."

Alex's POV

_Hey, Joey._

_What?_

_How many times have you done this?_

_Flown in across the state in order to find my twin sister with wings? Never. This is my first time, how about you?_ He mentally grinned.

_No, you know what I meant, the trippy eye thing._

_Yeah I know. Trippy eye thing? Never heard it called that before. Why do you ask?_

_'Cause you seem to be used it. I mean, you're flying just fine, even in Z's body. Like, you know what to do in someone else's body. How do you do it?_

For a while, he didn't answer. Then he said,_ Four times now. That's including Nudge, Z, and you._

I did the math in my head. _So, before us, you only did it once?_

_Yeah. It was an accident, actually._

_Really? What happened?_

There was a short pause. _There was someone, an assassin, attacking my mom and me, but he was really after her. I was just...scared. He turned on me, and I looked him in the eye. The next thing I knew...well, this._

_Freak you out?_

_You have no idea. So, after that, I promised myself I wouldn't do it again._

_But...you did. Why?_

_I guess...I was scared again. So I just got over the fear and went for it. The second time wasn't nearly as bad. It was like, after just the first time, I knew everything I needed to do. I knew how to get in, and I know how to look into their mind, see memories and thoughts. After one time, I just knew what to do. It's an instinct,, part of who I am. Like how you guys just knew how to fly. It comes naturally._

_Wait, you can look into my mind?_

He chuckled lightly to himself. _I could, but I won't. And I haven't. Actually, I had to look up some memory on how to fly, real quickly. But that's all. I prefer to stay out of things like that. I also prefer to stay out of a girl's body, if you wondered._

_I don't blame you, it makes sense. But then what about Nudge? And Z?_

_Nudge was the first one to look over at me. I had to do it quick, or I'd chicken out. And Z, well that was an emergency_

_Ah. I see. So, wait, why was there an assassin after your mom and you?_

_Pretty much because of my dad, I think. Because he's a mercenary, there's always someone trying to kill us._ I heard his bitter half-laugh in my head.

_Wow. Joseph, I had no idea. I'm-_

_Wait, listen..._ He interrupted me. Sure enough, there was someone coming up behind us.

Third person POV (By Me)

Three winged figures raced through the sky, and a fourth flew behind them, trying to catch up. Suddenly, the first three turned, finally noticing their 'stowaway'.

"Bri! I thought I told you to stay home!" Alex/Joseph said.

"I told you I wanted to come," she protested.

"Bri, it's too dangerous, you have to go home."

"No, I-" But then she stopped speaking without warning, and cocked her head as if she had heard something. Her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly, and everyone seemed to lean forward with worry.

"Bri?" Sheen asked. Z flew up to her, looking into her face with fear. Bri blinked and looked to the horizon, just as the others heard it. An owl. Bri zipped up to the owl, and seemed to be...speaking to it? The owl flew away and Bri turned to them in a panic.

"Guys we have to make it to Jess, right now!" she cried.

"What is it?" they all asked at the exact same time.

"I-I don't know, there's just something wrong! We have to hurry!"

"Then let's go!"

Jess' POV (By Me)

The Whitecoats were cowards, and all ran away, unless I got to them first. The Erasers fought back, but not very well. They didn't _think_ about it, they just fought. But this man, he was fighting, and fighting well. I could see that he thought about every move, every second. He used strategy. I was really fighting him. And not just attacking, he was using real moves. He had a fighting style. He even used a Bo-staff, rather than just trying to fight me off with his bare hands. I don't know where he got it, but it makes me glad. Now I have a real challenge. Funny thing is, we went on forever. Neither one could beat the other. But something had to give.

Joseph's POV (By Me)

"Up ahead!" Bri shouted. She pointed to a small white building, down on the ground, and we dived to it. _Hold on, Jess..._

We kicked down the door to find-nothing. It was all empty, there weren't even any walls.

"Guys!" Bri shouted from outside. "It's over here!"

We ran out, turning the corner in time to see Bri's skinny legs disappearing down into a ground-level window. We all shimmied in (good thing bird kids are so skinny, though Bri's small frame had us beat), and dropped to the floor. The room looked a bit like a hospital room only it was all torn apart. The sheets were scattered and torn, and the pillow was nothing but feathers now. There were straps lying haphazardly across the mattress, one was torn and freckled with blood. An IV bag swung on its stand, dripping eerily onto the tiled floor. The room had once been all white but was now splattered red. The whole scene had this horrible slasher-movie feel about it. We stood and silently stared at the door, now nothing but splinters.

The entire building was dead silent.

A loud crash shattered the silence, making us all jump. Bri whimpered. Shocked out of his state of fear, Sheen was the first to move. He picked his way over to the empty doorway, and looked out. His face went pale. Eyes wide, he turned to us. "Bri, you need to stay here. Don't move, alright?"

This time, when Bri nodded, you could tell that she would really stay this time. "But I don't want to stay alone," she said.

"I'll stay," answered Sheen. "You guys go, now. Quickly."

With that, we hurried out the door, more crashing sounds echoing to us. The second we got into the hallway, we saw what had freaked Sheen out. Bodies, all over. They all seemed to be Erasers, but then, as we looked, we saw that they might not all be dead. Without a word, Z went one way, we went the other. The more distance we covered, the better. I now understood, Jess wasn't in danger, they were, from her. Running down the hall, I tried really hard not to look at any... Erasers' bodies. Just thinking about it, and smelling it...made me gag.

_Hang in there, Joe,_ thought Alex.

Suddenly, I saw Jess.

She was fighting our dad.

Of course, dad was a good fighter, being an assassin and all, but so was Jess. On top of that, I don't think she _felt_ anything anymore. Every time he hit her, she laughed. She was bleeding like no other, but she didn't care. But whether she cared or not, it was about to kill her. I saw dad raise a final blow.

"DAD NO! YOU'LL KILL HER!"

He looked up at me, but not with surprise. He'd already known I was there. He looked at me a little sadly, a look I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Joseph... She's killing herself already."

My voice broke, as he raised his Bo-staff again. "No, you can't! Dad, please-!"

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Across the brightly lit room, was Z. Without a second thought, she ran and tackled dad. At that, Alex and I went for Jess. I could see in her eyes, I just KNEW, something had come undone, something had snapped in her mind. I was the only one with any chance of fixing it.

Jess' POV (By Me)

A dark grey streak rushed by and tackled the man. Before I could even wonder about it, I was tackled to the ground as well. I struggled, but the boy who tackled me had already straddled and pinned me, holding me down with all his weight.

Joseph's POV (By Me)

She struggled, but under Alex's weight it was useless. I quickly gave him a few last instructions before I left.

_I'm going in, I have to fix her. No matter what, just pick her up and get her out. While I'm this deep in her mind, I don't know how much control I'll have over her body._

_Should I try to heal her?_

_No time, just get home. Right away._

I grabbed her face, and forced her to look up at me. Then I let myself fall in.

Jess' POV (By Me)

All of a sudden, I couldn't control myself anymore. The boy on top of me did something, and it was like being brain dead all over again. Only now, there was another presence, inside me, inside my head. I felt them going deeper, looking for something in a panic. I wanted to scream in frustration. I think I did, in my head, because the presence spoke to me.

_It's ok, Jess, it's ok. It's alright; you're going to be alright..._

Joseph's POV (By Me)

There was something horribly wrong here, without a doubt. I fearfully searched and searched in her mind, endlessly trying to find where everything had first come undone. I was vaguely aware of her body, and realized that she really couldn't feel any pain. She didn't recognize us, either. What if I couldn't fix it? What would happen to her, would she even live? Mentally, she fought against me, almost throwing me out of her body all together. I could only hope that everything was being taken care of on the outside.

Jess' POV (By Me)

Just as I was about to either give up and give in, or actually win this fight, everything snapped into perspective. There was a little _click_ in my head as Joseph put something back into place. Pain seared my body like fire, so much, all at once, that it instantly knocked me out like a ball out of a ballpark.

Joseph's POV (By Me)

I found it, the loose piece, and hurriedly put it back into place. I quickly wished I hadn't. Able to feel pain again, she FELT it. So much that she passed out, on the inside. So much that I almost had to pass out myself. But I'd done it, that's what matters.

Alex's POV (By Me)

Soaring through the air at top speed, running on pure adrenaline, I almost didn't notice the figure in my arms waking up. Being twins, Jess and Joseph have the exact same shade of green eyes. But when hers opened, I could just tell it was Joseph.

"Hang on, Joey, almost home. Did you fix it?"

"Yeah, she'll be alright..." he said, barley able to form a sentence. "She's asleep, though..."

"Will you be alright, until we get home?"

He mumbled something, wincing, but I wasn't sure we would make it. Most of the bleeding had stopped, but Jess had gotten really beat up.

"How much farther?" I asked the others. "I don't know how long Joseph can hold on to it, and Jess isn't even awake anymore."

"I don't think it's very far," said Z, hopefully. "We just need to hurry."

(Midnight)

We landed on the porch as Adeline opened the door, near tears. All the kids were asleep, only Max, Fang, Iggy and Dylan were awake. They all rushed up to us.

"Addie, I can't fix it all, we need a hospital, now," I said.

She nodded, fear in her eyes. "Alright. I know someone we can trust, get in the car."

So Adeline, Z, Bri and I ran out to the car.

"Everyone else, stay," Z called over her shoulder. "We'll be back by tomorrow morning."

"That's what you said before," said Iggy. Z ignored him and got in the van.

"Oh wait," I said. "Joseph, you still there? You can get out now."

Joey came out of Jess' body, and almost fell over, both from sheer exhaustion and because his ankle was still broken.

"Are you alright?" Adeline asked her son as we piled into the van. He nodded, barley awake.

"Alright, no more body-hoping for such long periods of time, it totally wipes you out," Z said as Adeline started the car and raced to the hospital.

Joseph lovingly gave her a "No duh" look. She only half-smiled to herself.

**GAH that took FOREVER! Mmm… Crazy!Jess is fun to write. She's also kinda scary. I mean, she can't feel fear, or pain. But it's awesome. Sorry if this chapter was a bit over the top for anyone. Basically, it was blood and gore, but I didn't say it. I just implied it, which is often creepier. So there you go, have at it. And by that I mean review. **


	18. Healing

***sigh* Bad news, guys and gals. No laptop for me. But I've got two weeks to bring my GPA up 0.2(ish) points. Then I might get my own Netbook. So I'm blasting Rent to motivate me through the rest of school. It's working well, I think, but it's making me wanna dance. Oh yeah, you get to learn a bit more about Joseph in this chapter! Questions answered, finally! Actually no one's asked me anything at all, but I would like to think that you were wondering to yourself.**

**Disclaimer- The word 'disclaimer' should speak for itself.**

Joseph's POV (By Me)

Normally, I would sleep at times like this, being as worn out as I was. But there was a problem, my ankle was broken still. Of course, this was nothing like how bad it had been in Jess' body, pain-wise. So that was a plus. She was unconscious, though, so I don't think she was feeling anything right now. But she would later, and a lot, too. It'd been so unsettling, being in her body and not feeling anything, even though I knew she looked like she'd been through a woodchopper. Mom took another right turn, and Z spoke up.

"Um, I know I don't live here or anything, but isn't the hospital that way?" she asked. I knew it was, and was totally confused myself.

"Yes, but we're not going there," she answered.

"So...where are we going?"

"Like I said, there's only one person I want to go to for this, and he's not working right now, so we're going to his house. I can't trust anyone else right now."

That was understandable. Once again, I blamed dad. He'd lied to us so many times before. In fact, the very day that Jess came home, before she got there, he said he was going to his job. But that itself was a lie.

_Flashback_

I watched Jess, and everyone else disappear. She'd just gotten here and she already had to leave. Some owls started flying overhead so I began to watch them as dad's car pulled into the driveway. I hadn't seen him since yesterday morning so you'd think I would get all happy and run up and hug him, like most kids. Problem was, I wasn't like most kids, because he wasn't like most dads. He walked over and stood next to me, looking up at the birds as well. I wanted to leave, because I wanted nothing to do with him right now. But pride wouldn't let me, I guess. 

_"Have school today?" he asked._

It's Saturday.

_"Ah."_

_I looked over at him. He should really know this kind of stuff, but it wasn't much of a surprise that he didn't. Then I noticed something._

There's blood on your shirt. Whose is it? _I knew it wasn't his. It was never his._

_"What? Oh-" he swore, knowing I had caught him. "Look, Joseph, this isn't-"_

Yes it is! You said you'd stopped! Not that I ever believed it, but it was nice to think that maybe you'd really turned around.

_"Joseph, you have to know, it's not like that. I did stop, but-"_

You never stopped. You said yourself that it wasn't something you could just turn off by flipping a switch.

_He sighed as I turned to go inside. But then I turned around to sign one last thing. _

Whose blood is it? Is it another five-year-old who suddenly can't speak anymore?_ That hit a nerve, as it always did. After that I went inside, not waiting to hear his explanation again._

End flashback  
  
Maybe I hadn't given him enough of a chance. I knew he was sorry. He hadn't meant for it to happen. He just hadn't tried hard enough to stop it, hadn't been quick enough. Sorry or not, it'd been his fault.

I caught myself unconsciously rubbing my throat and quickly put my hand down. I didn't need to think of this right now. But I couldn't help but wonder, What if she hadn't gone missing before that day? Would they have tried to kill her first? It could've gone so differently. I glanced over at her near-dead form, held up only by a seat belt between Alex and me. The first thing she ever really said to me was, 'Did I get it on anything? Did I bleed on anything?' I thought it was stupid, really, that she would even care whether or not she got some blood on anything. Well, she was now, and she sure had back at the School.

Finally, we reached the house, and mom swerved into the driveway so fast I thought the car would tip. We scrambled out of the car, Z coming over to help me walk. We knocked loudly on the door, and an older man answered. Somewhere, in the very back of my mind, I thought I remembered him from somewhere.

"Dr. Goodman, Jess- she- oh my gosh-" mom's cool exterior cracked, revealing that she was absolutely loosing it. The man interrupted her.

"No time to explain, just bring her inside," he said. We hurried inside.

"Why? What's wrong?" Z asked.

"I'm going to be honest with you. There's not much time left to save her. Come on," he said as he led Alex, carrying Jess, downstairs. Bri moved to follow, but Z stopped her, silently shaking her head. And we waited.

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

Adeline had gotten Jess to the docs just in time. As the doctor worked on Jess, the rest of us waited out in the living room. It seemed crazy that they guy would operate in his house, but I'm used to crazy by now. I wondered how the flock was doing. I could just see everyone just sitting there, going crazy waiting to hear something from us. I chewed on my fingernail, nervous. Then I felt someone tap my shoulder. I looked over and saw Joseph. He took my hand away from my mouth. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I know it's a bad habit. But you can't tell me you don't have a habit when you're nervous," I said. He shook his head, and brushed some hair out of his face, and I could see Adeline do the same. I remembered that Jess did the same thing. I nearly laughed at the realization. I just put my hand back to my mouth. Joseph looked at me, hopelessly. I smiled and folded my arms, so I couldn't bite my nails.

"She'll be okay," I heard Bri say. I wanted to yell at her, that he couldn't be so sure, but I knew I'd only be taking out my anger and worry out on her. Besides she was only trying to comfort me. So I smiled and nodded.

"Why don't you go take a fly around the block to blow off some steam," Adeline said. I didn't want to leave Jess, but really; but if I stayed here another second I was going to cause some damage. I nodded and stood up.

"Okay. I'll go get something for us to eat," I said. "Bri want to come with?" I asked. She looked at the room that held the doc, and Alex, who were operating on Jess. She nodded and stood, taking my hand.

"Here, make sure you get something for Jess too. She must be starving after what she's been through," Adeline said, handing me over some money. I nodded.

"Anything you guys want?" I asked.

"Just get what you think is good." Adeline said. I turned to Joseph.

_Ice cream,_ he signed. I knew that one.

I nodded and added, _Which kind?_ I signed back. He smiled.

_What else? The works,_ he signed. I smiled back at him. I nodded and lead Bri out the door.

Alex's POV (By Me)

Oh man. I don't know if I can do this. Jess was barely breathing anymore, so the doc got out a portable oxygen tank and stuck the mask over her mouth and nose for the first ten minutes. He then began to cut off her shirt. I blushed and turned away.

"I can't stitch her up with that in the way," he explained. "Besides, she's covered."

I glanced down to see that he was right. She had a sort-of tank top on, cut off at the stomach. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, fill me in," he said. So I did, starting with telling him how I could heal the smaller cuts (he was happy to hear that and put me to work right away) and then telling him everything else that I knew.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"No, not that I can think-" I stopped.

Jess was waking up.

Jess' POV (By Me)

Pain. Everywhere. Seriously, it hurt like no other. I struggled to gain recollection of what had happened, and it came bit by bit. I seriously wanted to throw up. I moaned and opened my eyes as slowly as possible. I was covered in blood, and there was a man in a white coat standing over me. Naturally, I screamed.

"Jess! Jess, it's okay, you can trust him. He's helping." Alex was there, holding my shoulders down so I couldn't move.

"Alex! Hva skjer?" I couldn't trust this man, so I didn't speak English. I made another attempt to get up, jump off the metal table and run for my life. He firmly held me down.

"Jess, det er fint. Alt er ok, jeg sverger. Ro deg ned," he said. I looked up at him in disbelief. How could it be alright? He stared hard into my green eyes with his orange. I had decided to trust him once, and never stopped since. I bit my lip and made myself nod, and held perfectly still. Alex glanced up, I assume at the man.

"Give him your wrist, Jess," he said calmly. I glanced over at the man, and saw a syringe in his hand. I looked back up at Alex in fear.

"Du vil våkne opp. Snart," he promised. Not taking my eyes off of him, I stuck out my wrist. Alex was the last one I saw.

Joseph's POV (By Me)

Shortly after Z left, there was a scream from downstairs, one that was undeniably Jess'. Mom immediately leapt up to rush down there, but I put a hand on her arm. It probably wouldn't be pretty, not something she would want to see. She sat back down and sighed heavily, leaning forward to bury her face in her knees. I put a hand on her back in attempted-comfort.

"Oh Joey, I don't know how I can do this." I wanted to tell her everything would turn out all right, but the only thing I could do was keep rubbing her back, praying Jess would live through this. Absentmindedly, I pulled out my phone to check the time. 3 AM. Huh. Time flies when you're having fun. Not. I hope Z can find a store open this early, or at least be able to blow off enough steam. Still pointlessly staring at my phone, I notice the date. December 25. Wait, what? It's Christmas. Who would've thought? Not that it mattered much, in our current situation. I think about telling mom what day it is when a door opens and closes downstairs and a set of footsteps is heard, coming up the stairs. Both our heads pop up, and mom jumps to her feet once more. The doctor walked in. There was blood on his shirt, but mostly his hands; I heard mom gulp.

"Everything's fine," he said, "Alex told me he could finish up on his own. She'll live, after a lot of rest. You can go see her, but she's asleep."

Quicker than the words left his mouth mom hurried down the carpeted steps. He turned to me.

"Heard you broke your ankle. Let's see." I nodded my head sheepishly, as he knelt in front of where I was sitting to look at it. I looked too; it wasn't as bad as it had been, all the scratches and stuff had speed-healed by now. Good ol' dad giving me random genetic mutations.

"So how long ago did this happen?" he glanced up in order to see my signed answer.

_Couple days ago. I think the day before yesterday._

"You should have come sooner, but I guess you couldn't help that too much, eh?"

I nodded. What was so familiar about him? In the back of my mind I wondered how much exactly Alex had told him. And how much he already knew.

"I take it you spent the entire of these past few days in someone else's body?"

I slowly nodded. Apparently he knew a lot.

"You should be careful about how much you use your abilities. No one knows what could happen. But, that was a very brave thing you did, either way. And I'm not too worried, because I bet you could count on one hand how many times you've done it."

_How...how do you know so much?_ I couldn't help but ask.

"Joseph, I'm your family's doctor. I know more than you think." He looked down, back at my ankle, and said, "I've always been sorry I couldn't save your voice."

My hand went to my throat. So that's where I remembered him from. Then I put a hand to his shoulder to make him look back up and see what I was signing. _It's not your fault; no one could have fixed it. _It was true. From the moment the knife entered my skin, I knew, even at that young age. I knew because even though I was screaming no sound came out.

"Even still. A voice is a terrible thing to lose."

There was a long silence as he continued to work.

"Ah, I see," the man said, though I wasn't sure if it was to himself or not. "It's not broken, just dislocated. I can pop it back into place in a jiffy. But I have to warn, you, it won't feel too nice."  
I nodded to tell him to keep going and get it over with. I looked away for my own sake. There was a flash of pain, a horrendous popping sound, and then my ankle didn't hurt anymore at all. I looked back down to see that it looked good as new, if still a bit swollen.

"There, how does that feel?" he asked. I nodded in approval. It was a bit stiff and sore, but definitely usable. "Can you walk on it?"

No sooner had I stood up then the door burst open, and in ran Bri, completely frantic. She gave me a panicked look and I pointed towards the stairs, which she ran down so fast I thought she'd fall. Being a self-made expert on body language, I didn't need to ask to know she'd probably want my mom, or maybe even Alex. I leaned over the rail to try and figure out what was going on. Immediately mom and Bri ran back up the stairs. 

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

We were covered by shadows and the moon wasn't in the sky. New moon. I looked up at the night sky, and starred at the stars. The night was so beautiful, especially when you're flying. I looked down to see a golf course. The night sky reflected in the puddles of water.

"How come I find something so beautiful, when I was made for such evil?" I found myself saying, out loud. Bri looked at me as she flew below me. I sighed, not even trying to hide my feelings this time. It's funny how the stress of worrying about Jess can get me to act this way. The more I worry the less I care about what happens to me. I guess I've always been this way, but it's just occurring to me now.

"Should we just go to the super market?" Bri called to me. I nodded, and she took the lead. I followed her, wondering about her story. What were the Whitecoats planning on doing with her? I wondered what she had been through. Something I haven't experienced, neither did Liz. I made sure of that. I sighed, thinking of Liz. I haven't been paying much attention to her lately. I felt like a bad sister. I think when we get back to the others; I'll take her out somewhere. Just the two of us. Jess will need her rest, so it's a perfect opportunity.

Bri then headed towards the back of the market. I touched down, just as she brought in her wings. She took my hand and smiled at me. We walked into the store, the bright light in there almost making me go crazy. Seriously, what bulbs do they use? 1000 watts? I shook my head at my thoughts. I pushed the cart, Bri walked at the side.

"Should we get something we should cook? Or just fried chicken?" Bri asked. I looked at her. I then realized something that I hadn't before. She doesn't eat meat.

"You're a vegetarian, right?" I asked. She shyly nodded. I looked over at the fried chicken. I then looked over at the produce section. "Well I guess I could cook up some veggie patties. I haven't made those in a while," I said. She smiled up at me.

I lead her over to the vegetables, and grabbed what I thought looked good. When I looked over to see Bri looking at the fruit I almost laughed. She was looking at the oranges, and the bananas. I remembered fighting Jess to eat the stupid banana. I rolled my eyes at the memory. We are total dorks.

Then I remembered who had come to the store with me that day. Sheen. The guy that was supposed to be my soul mate. I know I totally denied that he was my other half, but now I don't think I could go on without him. Just like Alex with Jess. He was totally distraught when he found Jess missing. He truly loves her. I'm just not so sure about my feelings at the moment. Bri and I went to get some buns for the patties. She wanted the buns with the sesame seeds. I let her get them, and went over to get some soda. As we walked towards the checkout line, I felt something hit my butt. I whirled around to see an idiot grinning at me. Perverted much?

"Hey, cutie," he said. He was tall, and he had light brown hair, with dark brown eyes. He took a step closer to me. "I was just walking by, and I couldn't help but think you were an angel," he said. It was ironic. "Now tell me, will you fly with me tonight?" he asked. It was a nice pick up line, I have to admit. But I wasn't interested. I looked away from him, and saw Bri narrowing her eyes at him. "Come on baby."

"No way am I going to go with a guy, who talks to girls like they're actually stupid," I said. I could feel him brush my hair back. I turned to look at him. His face was inches from mine.

"How could I think you're stupid? I don't find dumb girls attractive." I pushed him away.

"Get a clue," I said. Bri and I started to put the groceries on the counter, and I heard the guy laugh. I ignored him and handed Bri the money to pay for the stuff.

As we were walking to the back, so we could take off, I saw a figure leaning against the building. The figure was smoking, and was hidden in the shadows. I stepped in front of Bri. I felt it, and was pretty sure she could feel it too. Trouble was staring us in the face. The figure stepped out of the shadow, and he smiled at me. It was the guy! I felt my muscles tense up, readying myself for a fight. Bri, noticing my stance, she took the bags from my hand.

"I knew you couldn't stay away from me," the guy said, taking a puff of his cigarette. I scoffed.

"It's more like your stalking me," I said. The guy smirked, and then he looked at Bri.

"Hey there sweetie," he said, taking a step closer. I did the same, this time glaring at him. He looked back at me, this time his smirk turned cocky. "She your sister?" he asked. I didn't say anything. "You don't look alike. Cousins maybe." He took another step closer.

"Stop right there," I said. He chuckled. I knew what he was after. Me or Bri, it didn't matter, as long as he got what he wanted. "Why, out of all places, did you pick the super market?" I asked out loud. He looked at me with a curious grin.

"Why not? It's full of vulnerable women, who are just waiting to be swept off their feet." He grinned. I didn't want him near Bri. I didn't want him even looking at her. I couldn't let her be his victim. I almost lost Jess, and that nearly killed me. I'm not letting Jess go through the same pain.

"Bri, go on ahead. I'll be home soon," I said. She looked at me like I was crazy. I gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry," I said. She stomped her foot. I glared at her. "Go."

"It's okay, I can do with two," the guy said, all cool, like it was just a normal thing for him. The guy made me want to puke. The guy started to go for Bri. No. Effing. Way. I pushed him up against the building.

"FLY!" I ordered to Bri. She knew when she was in trouble. I didn't even get to see her spread her wings and fly, as I pressed my lips against the pervert. I could hear her flap like crazy. But I knew the guy didn't see her because his hands were all over me. It was sick and wrong, and it just felt nasty. Not like when Sheen kissed me. Although forced, I could feel the love and passion in it. With this guy, it felt like nothing but bile. I pushed away from him to get a good look at his face. He didn't want any of that. He spun me around so I was against the wall, and he started to smother me in hard kisses.

I wanted to cry. I can't believe I was doing this. At least it was me and not Bri. But as I felt the creeps hands rub against me, I couldn't help but think of Sheen. How this will hurt him. For him to know I let this happen. I know that it hurt me. I felt the guy grab at my chest with one hand, and the other at my butt. I couldn't let this go any further. I pushed him off me, with a force I've never have to use, unless on an Eraser or flyboy. He looked at me, deadly. He growled at me and came for me again.

"STOP!" I shouted. That's when I felt it, the warm safety of fire. It burned through my body, but I didn't let it surface. The guy touched me, and stepped back hissing.

"What the-?" he looked at me.

"Touch me again, and I swear I'll cremate your ass," I threatened. He looked at me, freaked and confused. I punched him, and he fell to the ground, shouting in pain. A red burn mark on the left side of his face. "Don't EVER do this to anyone again! Or," I expanded my wings. In the lighting they almost look as dark as Fang's. "I'll send you to Hell." He looked at me really freaked, and I could literally see his life flash before his eyes. "You've been warned," I said in a terrible voice, and took off into the night.

I flew as fast as I could back to the house. I felt dirty and nasty all over. I wanted to take a long cleansing shower, and brush my teeth until I couldn't feel that guy's tongue in my mouth. I could feel my heart race as I flew. How is Jess doing? I wanted to know so badly. I could see the house, just a little away from my reach. Then out of the door, I saw Adeline and Joseph come out of the house, Bri right behind them. They headed towards the car. Bri obviously told them. But it was her that saw me coming.

"Look! She's coming!" she told the Wilsons. They looked up and I landed next to the car. Adeline rushed over to me, and went to check me. But when she touched me she pulled back and yelped. Oops.

"Sorry, I haven't called back the fire yet. Hold on," I said, and took deep breaths. When I cooled down, I felt arms around my waist. I looked down to see Bri.

"Your okay?" she asked, and I could see the tears.

"I am, but are you?" I asked. She nodded.

"Thanks to you. What happened?" she asked. I didn't want to scar her with the details.

"I kicked his butt. What else?" I said. She smiled at me. Then I looked up at Joseph and Adeline. "How's Jess?" I asked. They looked at each other, and then back to me.

"She's asleep. We don't know anything yet," Adeline said.

"Are they done with her?" I asked.

"Almost." Adeline said. I felt a pang inside my heart. It seemed I couldn't stay away long enough.

"Alright, who wants to help me cook dinner then?" I asked. Three faces brightened up and three hands were raised. We all went to work.

We walked back inside when I thought of something. "Where's Alex?"

"I left him downstairs with Jess," Adeline said. I turned to the doc.

"Can I go see her? Please?" I begged.

"Yes, that's fine. As long as it's just two at a time."

Before he even completed his first sentence I was running down the stairs. I opened the door and opened my mouth to shout something but stopped. There was Alex and Jess. He was cradling her tightly to his chest; as if afraid she'd disappear. Even in her sleep, she clung to him like he was a piece of driftwood after a shipwreck. I blinked. I'd had no idea. I mean, I knew he loved her, but when had she ever loved him back? He glanced up at me, and I just gave a short nod and backed out, shutting the door. Jess was okay, that's all a needed to know. She still looked like she'd been through a meat grinder, but had been stitched up so she was alright. She was pale and skinnier than ever, but breathing. I knew she would make it through just fine. I trudged up the stairs, to at least get some food.

Jess' POV (By Me)

All I could hear was the sound of my breathing, and all I felt were the pillows, blankets and sheets that surrounded me. I opened my eyes to the light I hadn't seen in ages. There was someone sitting next to me, and I turned to see a familiar green-eyed blonde.

"Hey," I said, voice barley reaching over a whisper. Joey looked up and smiled a greeting.

_How you feeling?_

"Got any Chapstick?"

He chuckled soundlessly. _No, but here's some water._ He picked up the glass and I eagerly sat up to drink it. I winced, still incredibly sore, but still took the glass and had a sip.

"How long has it been? What happened?"

_Few days since we got you here._ Joseph then explained to me everything that had happened. He added, _He hasn't left your side since the moment we found you._ He gestured over to the other corner of the room where Alex was slumped in a chair, snoring softly. _He really cares for you._ Joseph grinned. I gave a short breath of laughter.

"Yeah, I guess he does," I said. "So where is everyone else?"

_Mom's upstairs but everyone else is at home. We've been switching back and forth so everyone could see you, and also take time to__ rest. Except Alex, of course._

"Yeah, same old, stupid, Norway." I said with another small laugh.

_So, y__ou hungry?_

"Did you seriously just ask me that? Of course I'm freaking hungry!"

He silently laughed and reached over for a plate of food. To this day, I honestly can't tell you what kind of food it was. I don't know what it looked like, or smelled like, and I didn't even pay attention to the texture. All I can say is, at that time, it was the best food I'd ever had in my life. You've *_never_* eaten until you've starved.

Joey lightly shook my shoulder as his way of saying 'slow down, or you'll get sick.' I managed to make myself slow down just a bit. I swallowed the last of it and looked down at my plate, legitimately wondering what had been on it. In my train of thought, I remembered something...not too nice. My face went pale.

"Joey...oh my gosh... Joseph I killed them! I killed them all!" I began to slightly hyperventilate, and it took him a second to realize what I meant. When he did, he tried to reassure me.

_Oh, Jess, no, it's all right. No__ one can blame you. Look at me._ He turned my teary-eyed face toward him. _Do you know what they did to you? If it was anyone, I'm glad it was them._ I looked at myself, at all the wounds and battle scars. I realized that there were circular, red, burn marks where they electrocuted me. But still...

"Joey you can't be telling me they deserved to die."

He shook his head firmly. _No. No one deserves to die. But you deserved to live. What they were doing was wrong. It was sick of them to keep you like that._

"But still, I _slaughtered_ them, Joey."

_No. I was inside your head. You weren't you anymore. I didn't even recognize you. Really, you didn't kill them. It was someone else__ because you weren't yourself._

I had another hyperventilation/panic attack and literally fell forward onto his chest, and he held me, just like a brother should.

"Joey-they're still there. The...other person. Somewhere inside of me, she's still _there._ I think-I think we all have them. Some sort of, second personality, inside of us. It's how we were made. Oh Joseph I don't ever want to do that again!"

_I know,_ he managed to sign with mostly one hand so he could still sort of hold me. _But whoever made you wasn't thinking. You can't be a killing machine because you're still human. And bird,_ he added, smoothing down some of my feathers. _You never have to do that again,_ he promised. I was afraid to believe him.

"It scares me so bad though, to think I can-that I _did_- do that."

_I know. Also, I think that you were only asleep for so long because of that. Something in, the other __personality completely exhausted you. It wasn't just your injuries. But of course, that's just my personal opinion._

"No, I think you're right. The second you...fixed me, I passed out. Not just because of the pain."

_So it's agree__d, you'll never do that again. I'll help you keep in control, if you want._

"Agreed, in every way."

**Jeez I love twins! I have Twin Envy. So, everyone's safe (right?) and things are starting to get wrapped up. There's like one or two more chapters left to post. I hope I can do that before the end of school. Right after school (literally) I'm going on vacation for a week, so I wouldn't have time to update. Or access to a computer, for that matter. So let's wrap this up, shall we? Gah, I can't imagine this being over. Oh, a little explanation on the 'other personalities:**

**The Anti-Flock was built to destroy, right? But no human is a killing machine, unless they've had their humanity stripped from them. So that's what happened when she got electrocuted (tortured). Well, first she went into a neutral, 'brain-dead' state. Joseph was able to get into her head and fix it, but the inhuman part of her is still there. It always has been, I suppose, but now it's much more likely to come up. Each member of the anti-flock can go into this state when they go through something similar to Jess, and lose their humanity as well. Sound good? Questions? Please review!**


	19. Guilt

**Why am I updating this so early? Because I'm bored. Any objections? Good. Oh, I got a question in my latest review (as of now) and it asked if Bri (Kolibri) was part of the anti-flock, or if she was just a random mutant they picked up. To clear any confusion, she WAS just a random mutant they picked up. A summary: Jess is thrown into the back of a van, turns around. Oh look, another bird kid. *grabs bird kid and flies out of there*. So Bri herself wasn't made to destroy the world, she was just a "mistake", apparently, since they were going to kill her off. So she was adopted into the anti-flock, but she's not quite built the same as them. So, no "killer mode" for her. I actually don't remember off the top of my head who that was that asked (sorry O_o) but you know who you are. And now anyone else wondering the same thing knows the answer.**

**Disclaimer: Totally unnecessary in my in my "all-important" opinion.**

Sheen's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I got to the house with the rest of the flock. Adeline said that Jess was doing fine, and that Alex was in there with her now. I saw Bri curled on the couch next to Joseph. I looked around for Z, but couldn't see her. Max and Fang went to talk with Adeline in the kitchen. Gazzy and Iggy sat on the couch opposite of Joseph and Bri. Nudge and Angel sat on the floor in the middle of the living room. DeSean and Liz went and sat next to the window, keeping look out, with Dylan, except Dylan stayed standing. I leaned against the wall, closing my eyes, trying to think. This week has been some adventure. I can't help but feel it's my fault that all this happened. If I didn't come looking for Z and the rest of the girls, then they wouldn't have to go through all this stuff. They would be with Max, far away from here.

"You're all here for Jess?" I heard someone say. I looked up to see a middle aged man, coming up from the stairs.

"Uh, yeah," I said, walking over to shake his hand. "I'm Sheen." I said. He nodded.

"Doctor Goodman," he said.

"Nice to meet you."

"How is she?" Iggy asked.

"Oh, she's doing very well. Your friend Alex is down with her now. Would one of you like to go down and see her?" he asked.

"I think Sheen should go," DeSean offered. I looked at him. "To check up on both of them. You know?" I just nodded.

"Thanks doc," I said before I went down.

I don't know how, but I knew exactly what room Alex and Jess were in. I stopped in front of the door, and all I could hear were the beeping of the _swoosh_ of the machines. I didn't know what I'd find behind this door. Would it be anything like the labs? I think I might be sick. _Suck it up and go!_ My inner-voice scolded. Oddly, it sounded a lot like Z's voice. Z, where was she? Did something happen to her? I rubbed my hand against my face to calm myself down. I reached for the knob, and slowly turned it. The door slowly opened, and the noise of the machines became louder, with a stale scent coming from the room. Then, I saw the bed. On it was Jess. She had a few wires coming out of her, and a tube around her head so she could breathe. I know it was to help her, but I couldn't help but feel a little creeped out by the machines. I looked over to see Alex, next to her bed, holding her hand. His face hollow, like he hadn't slept for days. He stared at Jess with a gleam in his eyes- with love, and hope. The guy was hopelessly devoted to her. I quietly stepped inside, and closed the door behind me. I walked over to where another chair was set, opposite of where Alex sat. As I sat down in the chair, Alex looked up at me.

"You guy's made it," he said. I nodded. He looked back at Jess. We didn't say anything to each other. We both just looked at Jess. I wondered how Z was handling this. I remember when Jess was first taken, and Z had led the search-and-rescue. Then Z overheated herself, by stressing herself out, and we thought she had died. Man, that was ... the worst feeling I ever had. It was indescribable. I felt like my soul had just died along with her. Like, I couldn't go on knowing that Z died. That's probably how Alex felt. Now that he has here, with her safe, he can be in peace. At least he knows Jess loves him back. It's obvious by the way they look at each other. The gleam in their eyes when the other enters the room. For me, I have no idea how Z feels about me. She never lets me in. She keeps me at arm's length, keeping me begging. Afraid of her own feelings. It's frustrating!

"Did you see Bri up there?" Alex asked. I looked at him, but he was still looking at Jess.

"Yeah. She's sleeping."

"Joseph?"

"Him too," I answered. Alex nodded.

"That's good. They need their rest," he said. I hunched over, putting my elbows on my knees, and putting me head in my hands. "Tired?" Alex asked. I chuckled.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I asked. I heard him chuckle.

"Yeah. But I'm used to it," he said. I smiled. I swear the guy's a machine.

"Alex, is Sheen-?" I heard her voice. My head snapped up and I turned around. Z stood in the door way. She looked back at me, surprised. I smiled at her, but that just made her look away. "Okay, never mind." she said, and left the room. I looked back at Alex confused. He shrugged.

"Go after her," he said. I nodded, and left the room. When I got up stairs, I looked for Z. I couldn't find her though.

"She went out," Liz said, reading my mind. "She said something about more eggs." I sighed. She's avoiding me. But why?

Z's POV (By BoOkWoRm)

I sat in the room that I was sharing with Liz, and Bri. Seeing as Jess is still not completely healed, she will be under doctor supervision. Which means we were all still at Dr. Goodman's house. For a man who lives alone, he sure has a lot of rooms. It's been a whole week since we first got here. And all week I've been doing my best to stay away from Sheen. I can't do it. I can't face him. Not after what I did. It would hurt him too much. Every time I think of Sheen, I feel how much pain he would be in if I told him. Every time I think about telling him, I feel the slime ball's hands all over me. His mouth pressed against mine so awkwardly, the pressure of his body up against mine. How am I supposed to tell Sheen? Would he understand? Or would he just blow up in my face, telling me I was stupid for doing that? I should have found another way, but there was no other way. I had nothing on me, like mace, or a taser. Nothing. It was either Bri, or me, and I sure as hell I wasn't going to let it be Bri.

What do I say to him?

"Z?" a voice came from the door.

"Yeah?" I called back.

"Can I come in?" Then I recognized the voice. It was Sheen. I swore under my breath.

"Um, I'm not decent…"

"How so?" he asked. I said the first thing that came to my head.

"I'm naked." Why did I say that?

"Why are you naked?"

"I just took a bath."

"You took one an hour ago." What is he, tracking my bath time now?

"I felt like taking another one," I answered. I could hear him sigh behind the door.

"Okay, okay." Then I heard him walk down the hall. Slowly, I got off the bed, and walked over to the door. I leaned my head against it, to listen for him. Nothing. I unlocked the door, and opened it a little, just to see if he really did walk down the hall. Suddenly the door opened up wide, knocking me on my butt. Sheen hurried and stepped into my room, and closed the door behind him, pressing himself against it.

"What the hell?" I shouted. "I thought you went back down stairs!"

"I had DeSean walk down the hall for me, with a shrug" he said. I narrowed my eyes at him, he had planned this.

"What if I really was naked?" I asked. He smirked at me. "Sheen! Don't even! Or I swear, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll-" I didn't get to finish the sentence. Sheen had tackled me into a hug. His arms wrapped around me in a loving embrace. I could see how much he cared for me. This is why it killed me when he did stuff like this. He's so nice to me, and I'm so rude to him. Why? Why is he so nice? Because of the programming. Maybe. Which is why I push him away. I don't know if he really loves me, or he's just programmed to.

"I love you Z," I heard him whisper. My heart beat so fast, he could probably feel it. I pushed him away, and took a few steps back. The look on his face when I did that was so hurt; I nearly pulled him back to me. But I knew I couldn't handle it.

"I'm sorry, Sheen," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I can't, I don't," I shook my head, unable to say it.

"Is this why you were avoiding me?" he asked. I looked up at him. He was sad, and a little pissed. I mean could you blame him? "Because you're afraid to love me? Is that it?"

"It's not fear."

"Than what is it?"

"It that I don't think I can," I say. "It's not easy for me to love, Sheen. You have no idea what I've been through." Dammit! I'm doing it again. I just can't seem to shut up when I'm with him.

"I could say the same thing about you," he said. I shook my head. "You have no idea what _my_ life has been like."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Sorry? For what? Why do you keep saying sorry to me? I don't want you to feel sorry."

"Then what do you want?" I demanded. He looked at me, disbelieving.

"What I've always wanted- you. Z, I love you. Why can't you accept that?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what?"

"Why do you love me?"

"Because I do!"

"NO! YOU DON'T! YOU THINK YOU DO, BUT YOU DON'T!" I shouted. We both just stood there, staring each other down.

"What?" Sheen broke the silence.

"You don't love me, Sheen."

"Yes, I do."

"No!" I said, close to tears. "It's the programming. Your only love for me is through the programming. It's not real." I could see that he was really pissed now.

"Screw the programming," he said. "I love you Z. I know I do. You can't prove that I don't."

"And you can't prove that you do," I countered. His eyes flashed with such frustration that I flinched.

"You want proof?" he asked. I said nothing. "I'll give you the proof!" he said. Suddenly he had me in his arms again. His lips pressed against mine. I stiffened for a second, thinking of the slime ball. But when I felt the warmth and the softness of his lips, those memories faded away. My hands up against his chest, I could feel his heart race along with mine. In this one kiss, I could feel it. The love, passion, and desire Sheen had for me. What I couldn't see was the doubt of his feelings. He pulled back, looking down at me. I couldn't look him in the face. There is no way in hell I'm going to let this guy see me blush right now. But I think he got the wrong idea.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry Z. I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to force myself on you. God, I'm so sorry," he apologized. I shook my head.

"It's fine." I could still feel his gaze on me. "Really. I'm okay." I turned around. God, I swear I can feel my face get even hotter.

"Z, you know I would never hurt you."

"I know, just give me a minute." I felt like throwing up.

"Z, I-"

"Please, just go," I said. A few minutes of silence.

"Okay. Whatever you want." I could hear his soft footsteps retreating. I covered my mouth, and wrapped my other hand around my stomach. I fell to my knees. "Z?" I heard Sheen come back. I groaned as I felt my insides twist. "Z? You okay?" he asked. I couldn't hold it in. I puked. "Z!" I felt Sheen's arms go around me. I coughed up the rest of my lunch. I leaned up against Sheen. His cold hand felt good on my forehead. "God, Z. You're burning up," he said. I coughed again.

"Get, Max," I said, my voice sounding rough.

"I'm not leaving you."

"Don't be stupid."

"I don't care; you can't make me leave you now." For once, I was glad he was right.

"Max!" he shouted. "Fang!" He brushed hair out of my face. "Adeline!" He shouted once more. I heard footsteps coming up the hall. I closed my eyes, and just let Sheen take care of me. What is wrong with me? Why do I keep getting sick? I felt another puke-fest coming. I covered my mouth, and gagged. I felt Sheen shake, worried sick over me.

"What happened?" I heard Max's voice.

"She's sick. Help."

"Get her on the bed," I heard Adeline's voice then. "We'll have to clean that mess up later. Go get Dr. Goodman," she ordered. I heard running down the stairs. Then I felt someone pick me up, and set me down on a bed.

"You're going to be okay," Sheen whispered into my ear. I couldn't open my eyes, which just scared the crap out of me. Was I dying? I couldn't, I still needed to let Sheen know.

"Sheen, I have to tell you something," I said, my voice going out.

"Shhh... It's not important now. We need you to get better right now."

"But, I need to-"

"I don't know what's wrong with her. I've never seen anything like this," I heard Dr. Goodman say. My heart felt like it was beating so hard it would just stop, and my breathing was fast, and uneven. My whole body shook. I'm not afraid to die, but that doesn't mean I want to. I could feel myself getting pulled into unconsciousness. I wonder if I'll wake back up. This is not how I pictured my life ending. I always thought I'd die in battle. Weird, I know, but that's how my family went, and that's how I wanted to go too. Not by a stupid sickness. But I guess the world didn't want it that way. I could feel the final pull, and my strength is broken. I sink into a bottomless sleep. The last words I hear are Sheen's promise.

"I'll love you, forever and always. I promise. Just pull through."

This is one promise I have no choice, but to break.

I find myself floating above ground, but surprisingly, I'm not flying. Above me is a bright sunny sky, and under me I see my reflection in a pool of liquid red. I look at myself, and something is different. I look younger, like I used to when I was around eight. I press my fingers against my cheek and see the same red liquid coming out of my arm. I look at my arm to see that it's slit open. I want to scream, but I'm unable to. I look at my body and see that rivers of blood are coming out of me. I look back down at my reflection, and notice that I'm standing in my own blood. My chest heaves as I panic. I look around me to find help. But there's no one. Nothing but blue sky. I feel my tears run down my cheeks, but when I look at my reflection again, I see that I'm crying blood. I hurry and wipe the blood off of my face, only to have it smear all over.

Suddenly I feel like I'm falling. Then I notice that I am. The blood no longer there, but I still feel the warm liquid around me. I try to expand my wings, having a hard time with it. They feel like they've been strapped to me, like I was tied up. I keep pushing, having to extend my wings. I pull at my hair for some reason, but it seems to work. Soon my wings are free, and they expand their full length. I smile at myself for succeeding. But as I look around, I notice I'm not flying anymore, but standing. I looked around and found myself in a room. A room that looked really familiar. There was a bed, with dark purple sheets on it, and a Cars pillow sitting on top of it. I look on the wall to see trophies and belts. I walk over to see that the trophies and belts were for martial arts. Something about that sent a buzz to the back of my head. I walk over to the door, and I can hear them- familiar voices. So familiar that it brings tears to my eyes. I open the door, suddenly feeling like I have to go.

I run out of the room, no idea where I'm going. The voices are getting closer. I try to stop myself to turn around, but I can't. Why can't I control my own body?

"What about Z?" I hear. I run into what looks like the living room. A woman's back is towards me. A sleeping baby in her arms. In front of the woman sat a boy. My breath caught, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. That black hair, those brown eyes, and those cheek bones. Kyle.

"We just need to get Charlie to watch her, then," the woman said. Mom? I walk around to face her. I cover my mouth with disbelief. Her dark colored hair, those wrinkles from her laughing so much. It was definitely my mom.

"But she doesn't like Charlie," Kyle said. I took a step back, looking back and forth. They couldn't see me. I waved a hand in front of Kyle's face, but he kept looking at mom, unfazed. I even tried to smack him, but my hand went right through him. My first thought was: I'm dead. Then I thought: They're dead. If I were dead too, wouldn't they be able to see me?

"Then you'll have to take her out with your friends," Mom said.

"But mom, you know how those guys are. Either they'll tease her, or flirt with her. I can't have her hang out with us," Kyle says. Mom sighs.

"I can't take her to my doctor's appointment. What other choice do we have?" she asked. Kyle sighed.

"I guess I'll stay home tonight," he said. I shook my head.

"No," I say, knowing he couldn't hear. "I can stay. Go have fun." He's always sacrificing his time for me. Why can't he just think about himself for once?

"You don't have to do that," Mom said.

"I don't trust Charlie to be with them alone," he said. I saw how that made mom feel. It hurt her that Kyle couldn't trust him. "You know why. It's nothing against Charlie really, it's just I don't want anything happening to them. Especially since those guys are still looking for her." Mom only nods, fixing Liz in her arms. My Liz, my little sister. As I look down at her, I can't help but feel guilty. I haven't spent so much as a second with my sister, and she's the only blood relative I have. I'm not doing such a hot job taking care of her like I promised.

"Are you sure?" mom asked. Kyle only nodded. Kyle, I miss him so much. He was the best big brother anyone could have. Suddenly, I'm no longer in the living room. I'm in my old dojo. My sensei is handing me a black belt. I blink repeatedly- I was watching myself. I took the black belt, and bowed to my old teacher. He smiled and gave me a hug. Why was I seeing this? I look around and see my old friends, all of them with smiles on their faces, clapping for me. But as I look closer, I saw the smiles were fake, especially the older kids'. In their eyes I saw envy, and jealousy. Did they really hate me for graduating early? Did I really seem like such a show off? I look back up at myself, giving a demonstration. I was really good, but I could see that the others didn't care. They only saw a snot nosed girl, who they thought, had the perfect life. How off were they? Could they have been right?

"Way to go sweetheart," I heard the man standing next to me whisper. I look over and see a scraggy old looking man. His hair was messed up, and his clothes were wrinkled, like he's worn them for a couple days. He had a scruffy beard that connected to his mustache and sideburns. He looked oddly familiar. His dark black hair and brown eyes looked like someone I know.

"What are you doing here?" I hear someone else say. First I think that they were talking to me, but then I remember no one can see me. When I look, I see Kyle, and he's talking to the man. The man turns and smiles at him.

"Kyle, you've grown."

"What are you doing here?" Kyle asked again. The man looked back at younger me.

"Watching my daughter graduate," he says. It takes me a minute to realize what he just said. My eyes go wide.

"Daughter?" Kyle and I both shout. The man smiles at the younger me. "She hasn't been your daughter since you turned her in," Kyle accused.

"Kyle, you wouldn't understand," the man-my father-said.

"I wouldn't understand?" Kyle asked, appalled. "Understand what? You sold your daughter for drugs? To a bunch of mad scientist who did an experiment on her? Your right, I don't understand you." My dad shook his head.

"Don't be mad at me, son."

"I have a right to be mad. You made my sister into some kind of freak!" Kyle shouted. I flinched at his words. He just called me a freak.

"Kyle," dad warned. Kyle shook his head.

"Leave," he said. Dad took a step towards him, and he stepped back. "Go before I call the cops. You have no right to be here."

Suddenly dad reached out and grabbed Kyle by the shirt.

"You little snot!" he screeched. Kyle tried to pry him off, but dad's grip was tight. I didn't know what to do. I went for him. I felt the flames come, and I reached out for my dad. Suddenly my dad screamed out in pain, and dropped Kyle. People surrounded Kyle, people pulling dad away from him. "You burned me!" Dad shouted. "That little shit burned me!"

"Kyle, honey, are you okay?" Mom came and checked on Kyle, and then she got a look at dad.

"Debra." Dad smiled. A police officer looked between the two.

"Ma'am do you know this man?" he asked. Mom looked at dad with shock, and then looked down at Kyle. They looked at each other, then the younger me. I stood there looking at the man, pissed. Then mom turned back to the officer.

"No. I don't know this man." she said. Dad looked at mom shocked, and the police took him away.

Another shift and I was staring at a flame. I blink and see the whole family sitting at the table, ready for dinner. The scene reminded me of another time.

"You want any mashed potatoes?" Kyle asked me. The other me blinked and looked away from the flame and nodded at Kyle. They were smiling and eating, enjoying their time, and then Liz started crying.

"Sounds like she could use a change," mom said. The next thing I know, the other me stands up.

"I'll do it mom," I said. My heart pounded in my chest. NO. Not this. Not this memory. I barely could live through the pain the first time. I cover my eyes so I wouldn't have to watch this. But then I felt hot, and I could feel flames surround me. I open my eyes again, and see an Eraser throw something at me. It passes right through me, but when I turn around I see flames blow up our oven. Then flames surround me. I cover myself, only to hear sniffling. I look over my wings to find the other me, crying over a burnt figure. I don't need to look to know it was my mom. I look over and see Kyle on the other side, also burnt up. My family is dead, and it's my fault. My tears come back.

"Wake up!" I shout, hoping it was all a dream. "Wake up Z!" I shout again. The tears were coming faster and easier. "Get me out of here!" I shout. Nothing happens. "NOW!" I shout at the top of my lungs. Then darkness. I don't care if I was dead, as long as I didn't have to see that again. I killed them. I killed my family. It's all my fault.

**Dang, Z. Guilt issues? But then, who wouldn't, right? So there you go. At the most, there's only like two chapters left. I'll have to see how it all works itself out. Goodnight, y'all! Please review!**


	20. Full Recoveries

**Cheese and Crackers everybody it's the last chapter!**** Wow that's so weird… I thought of splitting it but then there was nowhere to split it well, and this way there's an even 20 chapters. No, I'm not OCD; I just like even numbers that are divisible by five, usually. You know, I think I accomplished something with this story. Looking back at the first chapter, the characters grew, and changed. When writing, that's one of the most important things to achieve. If you go from the beginning to the end of a story, and your characters are exactly the same on both ends of it, you did something wrong. Of course, writing fanfiction, and using characters that aren't ours, we can't change them too much, but even if it's just one thing, they have to have gotten SOMEWHERE in the story, right? Unless it's a one-shot, usually, but you know. MyrtleFalls: This chapter should answer all of your questions. Thank you EVERYONE who reviewed. In the words of my friend MEEP, reviews are like cotton candy- they're just colored sugar but you need some every time you go to the fair. So, here goes nothing.**

**Discliamer: no, I don't suddenly own any of this.****  
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Z's POV (Another combined effort from the minds of Phoenix Flight and BoOkWoRm)

My body aches. My mind feels like it's forcing its way out of my skull. My mouth is dry, and I feel hot. I take a sharp breath as I turn my head. I slowly open my eyes again; I see a window. Outside, there are bright lights in the distance, but the sky is mostly dark, besides the moon. It's night already? How long have I been out? The memory of my past adventure brought tears to my eyes. Mom, Charlie, Kyle. I miss them all.

"Z?" I hear a voice, one I know anywhere. Pushing back the tears, I turn my head to the other side. Jess sat up, looking concerned. I try to smile at her like normal, but I can tell she doesn't buy it.

"Z," she says, getting this look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." 

"Don't give me that crap, Z." 

This surprises me. Jess was always the quiet one, who would let things drop if she knew you didn't want to talk. But this, this wasn't her. Her new 'look' continued, like she was going to get an answer from me. I realized something, Jess wasn't a kid anymore. She'd just been through a living Hell. Of course she wasn't the same kid we'd found in an alley, months ago. Then, maybe she'd changed even before she went to the School. And I just noticed.

"Z," she broke me out of my daze, using a voice that seemed strange coming out of her, one with more force. "You need to stop doing this to yourself."

Wait what? "You think I'm doing this on PURPOSE?"

"Burning yourself up? No." Then her voice softened slightly with worry. "Stressing you out? Yes. Whatever's on your mind just get it off your chest. Don't you get it? You're killing yourself because you're bottling up your feelings. With your fire powers, you can't keep things to yourself anymore."

I stared at her. She still had to be Jess, but she had definitely changed. She was grown up, for sure. But, she was still my best friend. Something about her always makes me feel better. I guess it's knowing that she's here for me. But I can't shake off the guilt. I killed them. My family. If I wasn't born, then they would have lived. I hear Jess lay back down to go back to sleep, knowing that I was thinking. But, how could I get it off my chest? You can't change the past. And, there was no one to confess to. Or was there? Did Liz know? She had to... No, I needed to tell her. She deserved to know, more than anyone else. Even if she never really knew them, they were her family, too.

I slowly rolled over, trying not to get hurt so bad, and stared at the ceiling. Somehow, this stuff about killing my family didn't feel like the only thing that was stressing me out. But what else was there. I thought back to when I'd first passed out. I'd been talking to Sheen, and he had said how he loved me. And I couldn't love him back. I sighed, maybe he was right, and maybe I was just afraid. I remember yelling at him, and mentally hit myself. Jess was right; I need to get a handle on this stress thing. Not only is it killing me from the inside, I'm hurting people on the outside. How many times have I yelled at them? At the flock, at one of the boys, at Joseph, and almost at Bri. I hate that. I hate myself.

_Wait, Z, slow down,_ I think to myself. _You're doing it again._

Alright, no more hating on others, or myself, I have to change. Not too much, attitude is important. But enough to stop burning myself. I'm going to talk to Liz, and spend more time with her. And...I'll tell Sheen what happened at the store the other night. After that...maybe I'll tell him I love him.

I sit up, and get out of bed. I shut the door behind me and quietly creep up stairs.

The night air was cold and it sent shivers down my spine. I crept up the stairs to find Liz, trying to be as quiet as possible. I opened her door and could hear light mumbling. I peeked through the crack to see if she was awake. She was, and Angel and Nudge lying next to her. I checked the time on the alarm clock, and it read 1:45 am. It was early morning. I should probably let her sleep. Silently, I close the door, and walk back down the steps. Even if she were awake, I don't think now would have been a good time to tell her. I'm scared of what she'll think. Will she hate me? I mean, I killed them. My family is dead because of me. I should have left before. The white coats wouldn't have found them if I weren't there. I shake my head. I'm doing it again! I have to stop blaming myself. There isn't a way to change the past, so I shouldn't worry about it. Listen to me; I'm starting to sound like Sheen.

I pull my hair back and tie it in a knot. I notice that the highlights were completely faded, leaving me with my normal black hair. I remember that day. When we were all together, all happy. We didn't have to worry about any injuries, or psychotic fathers. I start to think about the way Angel and Nudge smiled when I volunteered. They were so excited. As horrified as I was, I was happy to see those smiles. Knowing that the flock was happy was all it took. I smile, we could relive time. A sudden clank brought me back to reality. I turned around on high alert. It sounded like it came from the kitchen. But it was dark and silent. Maybe it was just a pipe, or an unsettled pot? I turn back to go down stairs, back to bed, when I heard another sound. It sounded like a swoosh. I know it wasn't my imagination. Slowly, I stepped toward the entrance to the kitchen. I could barely hear the careful movements inside. Their steps were light, and whatever they were doing, they did very quietly.

My breath became ragged when I thought of who it could be. Was it Jess' dad? Did he come back and find us? This wouldn't be the first time for him to show up unexpectedly. I grabbed the nearest thing by me, turned out to be an umbrella. Doesn't the doc play golf or something? A 9 iron would have been better. But the umbrella is going to have to do.

I brace myself, taking a few deep breaths, and then I step into the kitchen. I raise the umbrella above my head to attack. The figure is a bit taller, and he seemed toughly built. Then the figure opened up the fridge, the light illuminating his features. My eyes went wide, and my heart stopped. My mouth nearly fell to the floor, but I shook myself.

"Sheen?" I called out. He spun around quickly. I obviously scared him.

"Z," he breathed out in relief.

"What are you doing?" I asked. He looked over me, and almost smiled. Almost.

"What are you doing out of bed? And what's with the umbrella?" he asked. I didn't realize I still held the thing above my head, and I dropped my arms.

"I hear it's going to rain tomorrow, so when I heard someone raiding the kitchen I thought I'd be nice and give them some cover up," I said sarcastically. I could tell he thought it funny, but he was being serious right now.

"You shouldn't be up," he said.

"I could say the same thing about you," I said. "What are you doing?" I repeat my question.

"I was just getting something to eat," he explains. I look over him. He's in shorts, thank god. I don't think I could handle seeing him in boxers. But as I went father up, I saw he was shirtless, showing his lightly tanned skin, and his toned muscles. My face was going completely hot and red. Then as if it couldn't get any worse, I went weak in the knees. I started to topple over, but Sheen always had fast reflexes. The next thing I know I'm in his arms, staring at his face. My breaths come out edgy, and my heart feels like it's beating in my throat. The electric blue of his eyes stare at me with such concern, I can't look away. Then I could feel his warm skin against mine. That's when I notice that I'm only in my undershirt, and the black sweats I was wearing before.

"You okay?" Sheen asks. I manage a nod. He helps me up, and seeing that there aren't any stools around, lifts me up onto the counter. "Maybe you should eat something," he suggests, and steps back to the fridge. He pulls out some yogurt, and grabs a spoon. He hands it to me, and I see something off with one of his arms. I grab his wrist, and pull him closer. He smiles, probably getting the wrong idea. I brush my fingers against his shoulder until I can see it. My eyes narrow and I grip his wrist tighter.

"A tattoo?" I ask. He looks at it, and tries to pull away his hand, but I won't let him go. "Where did you get a tattoo?"

"It's not a big deal," he says. The tattoo is the Roman numeral 10: X. But it was decorated in a calligraphic sort of way.

"Not a big deal? It's a tattoo."

"Why does it matter to you? It's not hurting anyone," he said. I fling his wrist back at him. He stumbles back.

"I can't believe you have a tattoo," I say. I was really only pissed because he had one before I did.

"Well, I couldn't really help it," he says defensively. "The white coats gave it to me. To tell who I was when I shifted." But I didn't understand. "When I shift, the skin stays the same. So who ever I turn into will have my mark, my tattoo. It was a way to make sure I wasn't escaping." I blink repeatedly.

"Oh," is all I said. He shook his head.

"No big deal," he said. I nodded. He handed me the yogurt again, and I took it. It felt heavy in my hands, and all I could do was stare at the carton. Strawberry, like the ones from the store down the road. Wait, the store, that night, when Bri and I went to go get food. The memory suddenly flooded my head. The feel of him, the look in his eyes, the pain. I started to shake remembering him. I wanted to scream, but somehow I couldn't. I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't allow myself.

"Z?" Sheen's voice brought me back, and the warmth of his hands on mine made me feel safe. I looked up at his face, and saw the worry and confusion in his eyes. I had to tell him. No matter how mad or hurtful he'll get. I need to tell him.

"Sheen, there's something you need to know," I start, my voice cracking. He brushes a strand of my hair out of my face.

"What is it?" he asks. I swallow my fear and guilt.

"The night we brought Jess here-" I look back down at our hands. "I took Bri with me to the store."

"Yeah?"

"And there was this guy…" I say. His grip suddenly tighter. "He tried to-" the words stuck in my throat.

"Tried to what?" Sheen asked.

"I made Bri leave. I wasn't going to let him get her." I looked up a little, only to see his bare chest. I looked up at his face. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He showed no emotion. "But for her to get away meant that I would have to distract the guy. So I-I-" I cleared my throat. I just had to say it. Stalling wasn't going to help. "I threw myself at him."

"Threw yourself at him how?" he asked. I gripped the carton tighter.

"I made out with him." I looked him straight in the eyes. I had to do it. He had to know. His face went blank, and he stepped back, leaning against the opposite counter. His expression showed disbelief, betrayal, and so much pain. I wanted to pull him back to me, say that I was sorry, and that I was only kidding. But I couldn't do that; it would only make both of us feel bad. I had to deal with this, no matter how bad it was.

"Sheen, I'm so sorry-" I say. But he doesn't look at me.

"How long were you going to keep this from me?" he asks. I hold back the tears as I see anger fill his eyes. I don't answer him, because I wasn't sure if I would have ever told him. My silence only made him angrier. He looked up at me, and I flinched as he glared. "Where you just going to keep this bottled up? Keep it to yourself forever?" he asked. But him being angry only made me mad.

"Why are you mad? I told you didn't I?" I nearly shout.

"Yeah, but this happened what? Two, three weeks ago?" he says. "Tell me Z. If you didn't nearly die today, would you have ever told me?" he asks. I think for a minute, and realize something. I wouldn't have. I'd keep it to myself, too afraid to hurt him.

"No," I answer. He laughs out of anger, and turns around. His back is to me, and he leans against the counter, covering his face. "But you have to understand-"

"Understand what? What is there for me to understand?" he asked.

"I had no other choice. It was either Bri or me. I sure as hell wasn't letting Bri go through that." He shakes his head.

"I'm not mad about that. What I'm mad about is that you wouldn't have told me," he says.

"Why can't you trust me? Why can't I be the one you talked to when times get bad? Why do you have to keep stressing yourself out, and killing yourself?" he sounded just like Jess.

"It's not like I want to commit suicide!" I shout.

"I'm not saying that!" he shouts. Then he takes deep breaths to calm down. I do the same. "Do you know how worried I was for you today? How I feel whenever you're like that. I get scared, Z. Scared that I might not see you again. That those last moments you could have died, and we were fighting. How bad I wanted to take everything I said back. Do you know how scared I was when Dr. Goodman said he didn't know how to help you?" he eyes started to over flow with tears. I stared at him with shock, nearly crying myself. He was proving what I had thought earlier. How I was hurting others around me, even though I was stressing myself out trying so hard not to.

"Can't you see how much I love you? I know it's not the programming. Because while you were passed out and clinging to life, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I wished I was in your place, that I was the one dying and not you. Programming is purely survival, and me wanting that more than anything proves that the programming with us, doesn't work. So I love you for you, not because someone programmed it." With each word, he filled my heart with love. Love I've missed out on for years. Love I miss from my family. I couldn't take it. I threw the yogurt at him.

"Stop it," I say quietly, not able to yell. "I know. I know you love me, and you're right. I'm scared, scared to love you," I say, tears coming down my face. "I've lived most of my life surviving. I've always been different, growing up in a normal world, it's twice the hell. Seeing kids my age, living normally. It hurt. So to stop myself from feeling that hurt, I closed off all emotions. I only showed what I needed. When I needed to be happy, I showed that I was happy." As I talk, Sheen walks closer to me. He reaches his hand out to me, and I take it, pulling him closer. "So you're going to have to be patient with me. I haven't let anyone see what I was really feeling for a while."

He pulls me into a tight hug. I let the tears come, and I let Sheen hold me. Liz, Jess, the flock. I used to think that all I felt towards them was care and friendship. But as my emotions are starting to resurface, I realized that I love them. I've loved them for a very long time. I also realize that I'm starting to love even DeSean, Alex, and even Sheen.

Maybe Sheen is good for me. Or he could be the end of me. Either way, he's helping me realize things I should have realized a long time ago.

A few weeks later. Or something. Whatever. ;)

Jess' POV (By Me)

"Okay take a deep breath in... And out. Good; again. In... Now out. Good..."

The stethoscope was cold on my bare skin. I had the back of my shirt pulled up, so Dr. Goodman could give me another check-up, to see how I was healing. I had slowly gotten a little more used to being here, in this hospital-like room, and had started to trust the man in the white lab coat. I glanced once more out of the corner of my eye at Alex. His shirt was completely off, as Dr Goodman wanted a comparison; and, Alex had refused to leave my side at all, anyway. The doc was doing the same thing with Alex as with me, asking him to take a few deep breaths while he listened. On the outside, Alex seemed cool and calm. But judging by the whiteness of his knuckles as he gripped the edge of his chair, he was making an effort not to freak out. I leaned over just a bit to brush my fingers across his calmingly. He opened his eyes with a half-smile and his hands relaxed a little. I think how it must be killing him to be in here. I mean, I was in the School for what, a week? And I am seriously on edge. He grew up there, so I can't imagine how hard it is, even with just the smell alone.

"Alright, Jess," the doctor's voice breaks into my thoughts. "Looks like you're perfectly healthy."

"So I can go home?" I ask.

"Yeah, you can go home. I would recommend that you stay resting for a few more days, and just try not to fight anymore lupine hybrids for a while."

Dang, this dude was pretty chill, for a doctor.

"I'll go tell your mother, and you can come upstairs when you're ready. You'll be home again before you know it," he continued, leaving the room. _Home again._ Such foreign words to me, something even I seem to be unable to translate properly. I look back to find Alex staring at me.

"Are you going to put your shirt back on?" I ask him.

"Nah, feels good not to hide my wings," he said, rolling his shoulders and ruffling his feathers slightly. "Plus, you know you love this view." He grinned and flexed his barley-there muscles. I flashed a wicked smile and slapped his bare skin, leaving a bright red mark. "Ow!"

"You were asking for it," I shrugged nonchalantly. Next thing I know, he tackles me, almost knocking me over. Somehow he manages to hold me tight AND tickle me at the same time. I squeal and squirm, trying desperately to get away. I'm out of breath and laughing when I beg,

"Alex *giggle* let go! I can't *gasp* breathe! *giggle* Alex!"

He doesn't let go, but stops tickling me. Admittedly, this isn't so bad at all. Somehow, I feel safe in his arms, like I'm suddenly invincible. For a bird kid, there's no better feeling. Soon enough, I was totally serene, without any care in the world. I aimlessly glance down at Alex's arms, and find an unexpected surprise. All over, there are lines- angry, red, scars. Out of shock, I stiffen.

"What? What is it?" he asks, instantly back on-guard.

"What happened?" No answer, but he let go of me. "Alex?"

"Don't worry about it, Jess. Don't even think about it. It's not important anymore."

"Not important? How could it not be important? You-you were hurt!"

He touched his fingers to my lips, silencing me. "A long time ago. It doesn't matter to me anymore; nothing does, because now, you are my world." He kissed my head, and then turned to put on his shirt again, covering his caramel-colored wings. He faced me again. "Let's get upstairs. Let's go home."

I stood up, stretching myself out slowly. I was sore everywhere and it hurt to move at all. Alex was at my side before I could blink. He took my arm and draped it over his shoulders, and put his other hand at my waist.

"Easy," he said leading me along slowly. "Don't strain yourself; just one step at a time." I would have argued, out of pride, but he was right. My knees were shaky, and if it weren't for Alex I knew I would fall over. Step by step, he led me up the stairs. 

Life was perfect again, at least for now. Everyone was safe, happy. During the warmer months, the flock and our little anti-flock traveled together, going where we wanted, and doing whatever. We flew a lot, always on the move. But this time, we weren't running away from anyone or anything. Then, during the winter, the flock went to Dr. M's place, and we went to stay with my mom and Joey. Life was good, everything fell into place. My dad simply disappeared, into thin air. Mom said it'd happened before, so I figured maybe he'd be back again, a while from now. I didn't know if he'd still be trying to turn us in, or if he had changed his mind, seeing what would happen first hand. Perhaps I'd never know, because there's a chance he won't come back. For now, we're just taking life as it is.

**Sappy last paragraph? Yes, please. This chapter isn't my favorite, but it's only a wrap-up chapter. It feels so weird to be done with this. You wondering what happened to Alex to give him those scars? Or when Sheen got that tattoo? Or maybe what got Bri into the back of a van, about to be 'terminated'? Well it's not over! I'm going to start a little one-shot series (also with BoOkWoRm) for the anti-flock. Filling in the gaps and sending them further into the trouble of teen-hood. But I don't think I'm going for a sequel, at least not one that's posted. If I did, I would have to go full-on crossover, into the Teen Titans archive. (You know, no one guessed that). So that's the end. Speaking of archives, I think I'll be moving on into others for a while. I'll come back to Maximum Ride some day, but for now, I'm spreading out. Thanks and cookies for everyone, it's been fun. Please review! Luvs!**


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